On a cold night in early December, a group gathered at Gould Park in South Paterson to sing carols and light a Christmas tree. South Paterson is a thriving commercial and residential area and home to many Middle Eastern immigrants.
Jim Nouri, a business leader and organizer of the Christmas tree lighting, said many Muslims attended the event as a show of friendship and solidarity, even outnumbering Christians.
This didn’t surprise him.
“Without them, without us. We have been celebrating together for the past 50 years,” said Nouri, a Syrian Christian who invited attendees to his family restaurant for dinner after the lights were turned on.
A long tradition of interfaith cooperation in New Jersey’s third-largest city is not the image far-right demagogues try to portray for Paterson and other communities with large Muslim populations. Speaking at the Turning Point USA festival on December 20, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard painted a different picture. She claims Muslims are plotting to infiltrate institutions and impose Islamic law on American communities.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks at America’s Day on Dec. 20, 2025 in Phoenix.
She specifically mentioned Muslims in Paterson during her speech.
“They are trying to implement in their own government these Islamic principles that have been imposed on people through law or violence,” Gabbard said of Patterson.
“Islamic ideology is a direct threat to our freedoms,” Gabbard told an audience at a summit organized by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for conservatism among young Americans. She said it seeks to “establish a global caliphate to rule over us in the United States.”
She also pointed to Houston, Texas, Dearborn, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota as places where Muslims allegedly tried to take over and impose Islamic law.
“She was seriously misinformed”
Leaders and city residents say the portrayal of Paterson’s Muslim community and the faith as a whole is wrong and rooted in bigotry. Mayor Andre Sayegh said it also seemed out of touch with reality.
“She was grossly misinformed,” Sayer said. He participated in a press conference on December 23 to condemn Gabbard’s comments. “Paterson is one of the most culturally diverse cities in America. We embrace different faiths, religions and races. We are a better city because Muslims call Paterson home. They contribute to the social and economic fabric of Paterson and that is something to be proud of. Many successful business owners, lawyers, doctors – they are all Muslim.”
Mayor Andre Sayegh speaks during the State of the City address at the new Vista State Park in Paterson on Thursday, November 13, 2025.
Paterson has a population of approximately 160,000 people. Community leaders estimate its Muslim population at about 25,000 to 30,000, including people from the Middle East, Türkiye and Bangladesh, as well as black Americans.
Sayer, who has served as the city’s mayor for more than seven years, is a Christian. Three of the nine members of the city council are Muslims. There is an irony in the accusations against Muslims in government: Critics accuse them of failing to assimilate, then accuse them of infiltrating and taking over when they hold leadership positions and run for office.
Lad Odeh, the deputy mayor and president of the South Paterson Business Association, who is of Palestinian Muslim background, said Gabbard should be held accountable for her claims.
“She should come visit us in person and see for herself that this information is 100 percent false,” he said. “Paterson is a very democratic city, just like any other city or state in this country. Just like any other group, we are allowed to exist here and our constitution gives everyone the same rights.”
He added that the South Paterson area is the pride of the city: a thriving 2.9-mile strip of shops, restaurants and professional offices that attracts visitors from all over the region. Odeh said most business owners are of Middle Eastern background and of both Muslim and Christian faiths. Paterson is also home to the Bengal residential and commercial district along Union Avenue.
Odeh said people of different faiths respect each other’s traditions and festivals. During this holiday season, the South Paterson Business Alliance collected 3,000 toys to distribute at city halls, churches and community centers, he said.
In recent years, Abdulaziz, a former lawmaker of the Muslim faith who is now a member of the state parliament, has held parades and distributed toys in the city’s Sixth District.th The hospital room on Christmas Eve. The event is founded and run primarily by Muslim volunteers.
That collaboration extends into civic life, politics and business, Odeh said.
“Regardless of this hateful rhetoric,” he added, “our community is here to stay. This is our home and we will continue to do everything we can to keep our city safe and prosperous and set an example for the rest of the city and across the state.”
New Jersey officials respond
New Jersey officials also weighed in on the controversy. Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that he “strongly condemns Gabbard’s Islamophobic comments targeting the Muslim community in our great city of Paterson.”
“This type of religious hatred and bigotry has absolutely no place in our country,” Murphy said.
U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Andy King also expressed support for Patterson.
“Tulsi’s dangerous attempt to spread fear, pit people against each other, and smear American Muslims in Paterson, New Jersey, is dishonest, cruel and un-American,” Booker said in a social media post. “It endangers the entire community. In Jersey, we know our state’s diversity is our strength and we will defend our strengths.”
King wrote that Gabbard’s comments about Patterson were “both false and dangerous.”
“In New Jersey, Muslim Americans are our friends and neighbors, they are community leaders and caregivers,” King wrote online. “Trump and his team want to divide us so they can distract us. We can’t let them do that.”
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin called Gabbard’s comments “reckless, false and dangerous.” He added, “This act of intimidation has real consequences. Targeting Americans because of their beliefs is unacceptable, un-American, and will not be tolerated in New Jersey.”
‘dangerous’
Gabbard’s comments come amid what Muslim leaders say is a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric moving from the fringes to the mainstream. Far-right pundits, social media influencers and members of the Trump administration view Muslims as security threats and anti-Americans.
Gabbard also took aim at this goal in a speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claiming that the national advocacy group “issues a call to action to use America’s legal and political systems to enforce Sharia law.”
Selaedin Maksut, executive director of CAIR’s New Jersey chapter, called Gabbard’s comments “dangerous” and “inflammatory.”
“Paterson is clearly not governed by ‘Sharia law,’ and Muslims in New Jersey clearly have no intent to impose their beliefs on the people of Paterson,” Maksuter said in a statement. “Everyone in America lives under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution and the laws of their respective states. To suggest otherwise is not debate — it is incitement to promote harassment and discrimination.”
He added that Sharia law is meant to inspire fear, but it is not a “political tool” as Gabbard calls it. Instead, it is Islamic code, or broad rules — similar to Halacha for Jews and canon law for Catholics — that guides Muslims on how to live ethical lives, Maksuter said.
Maqsut believes rising anti-Muslim rhetoric is often directed at Muslims in elected office and is intended to silence or marginalize them because of their advocacy against U.S. support for Israel’s war.
“Muslims are not ruining the West,” he said. “They are exercising their constitutionally protected rights.”
“By falsely portraying Islam and the Muslim community as a threat to American freedoms, [Gabbard] Engaging in reckless intimidation that endangers real people. “
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson mayor says claims of Muslim takeover ‘dangerously misleading’
