Mohamed Khairullah is mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey and describes himself as “an American mayor who happens to be Muslim… I don’t impose my religion when it comes to running the town. But my religion imposes on me the moral values that I operate with.”
Born in Syria, Mr. Khairullah decided to seek elected office after becoming a U.S. citizen in 2001. The mayor says he was always interested in politics, but didn’t realize it could be a real possibility until he was a teenager. “I remember walking to high school here and seeing a sign that has an Arabic name on it, a political sign. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is crazy, amazing.’ So it planted a seed in my head.”
For more on the mayor, watch this informative clip –
