Sagal Abdi-Wali put her hand on the Quran in Parliament. Then the internet exploded

Her right hand rests on a small book. She wears an orange hijab. She reads the words every MP must say before they can take their seat.

The new MP is Sagal Abdi-Wali, and the book is the Quran. Within a day, a clip of that moment had crossed the Atlantic and back.

The video was shared by the US account Libs of TikTok, and the replies poured in. Some people called it a sign that Britain was "lost". Others said an oath on the Quran meant nothing. Many came to her defence.

So who is she, and what do the rules actually say?

Who is Sagal Abdi-Wali, the new MP for Holborn and St Pancras?

Sagal Abdi-Wali is the new Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras in central London. That was Keir Starmer's seat until he quit as an MP last month.

She was born in Somalia. Her family fled the war there in the 1990s and settled in London when she was a young child. She has lived in Camden for about 35 years.

She became a local councillor for Camden Square in 2022. In May 2026 she became leader of Camden Council.

Some social media posts claimed she was not British. The fact-checking charity Full Fact looked into it and found that she has British nationality.

How much did she win the by-election by?

The vote was on Thursday 8 October. She won 12,292 votes, about 45% of the total. That put her more than 3,300 votes ahead of Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Turnout was 38.76%, according to Camden Council. Labour has won this seat at every election since it was created in 1983. She is the first woman to hold it.

In her victory speech she said she hoped her win "says something about who gets to belong".

Photo: Richard Kelly / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Why are people angry about the Quran oath?

Most of the anger in the replies came from people who see Muslim politicians as a threat to Western countries. Some said Britain and Europe were "lost". Others argued that an oath sworn on the Quran could not be trusted.

Many compared her to Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York. He was sworn in on 1 January 2026 using his late grandfather's Quran and a 200-year-old copy lent by the New York Public Library. He was the first New York mayor to take his oath on a Quran.

Plenty of people pushed back. One reply that spread widely pointed out that she had beaten every other person who wanted that seat, and told critics to respect the place she had earned.

Another thread of replies turned on Valentina Gomez, a US activist who also posted about the clip. Gomez ran for office in Missouri and lost. In August 2025 she posted a video of herself burning a Quran with a flamethrower while running for Congress in Texas. Several British users asked why an American politician was telling the UK who could sit in its Parliament. It is not the first time a London row has gone global, as the fuss over a so-called Black-only cinema in the city showed.

Can MPs swear on any holy book they want?

Yes. Every new MP must either swear an oath or make a promise, called an affirmation, before they can sit, vote or be paid. The rules come from the Oaths Act 1978.

The oath is a promise to be faithful to King Charles, his heirs and successors. The words are the same for every MP. Only the book changes.

An MP can hold a Bible, the Old Testament, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah or another holy text. The House of Commons keeps a set of these books ready for swearing-in day. A new Bhagavad Gita was given to the Speaker in May 2024.

An MP who does not want to swear by God makes a solemn affirmation instead. It is the same promise, with no holy book and no mention of God. Some MPs also say the oath in Welsh, Gaelic or Cornish after saying it in English.

Do most MPs swear on the Bible?

Most still do, but not by as much as you might think. After the July 2024 election, the Church Times reported a tally of 249 MPs who made the non-religious affirmation. It counted 338 who swore on the Bible.

338.00Swore on the Bible

249.00Affirmed (no holy book)

See the numbers

Swore on the Bible	338.00
Affirmed (no holy book)	249.00

Source: Church Times tally, July 2024. MPs who used other holy books, such as the Quran or Bhagavad Gita, are not in either bar.

The group Humanists UK said about 40% of MPs chose the affirmation in 2024. That was a big jump from the election before.

Some MPs who are not religious still swore on the Bible. Some religious MPs chose the affirmation. The choice is personal, and nobody checks what an MP believes. Parliament has bigger fights on its plate, like the debate over rejoining the EU, but few moments go viral like swearing-in day.

How many MPs have sworn on the Quran before?

Many. Muslim MPs have been taking their oath on the Quran for almost 30 years.

The first was Mohammad Sarwar, the Labour MP for Glasgow Govan, in 1997. He was also the first Muslim elected to the House of Commons.

In July 2024, Shabana Mahmood, who became justice secretary that month, and Bradford MP Naz Shah both swore on the Quran. The Religion Media Centre counted 25 Muslim MPs in the 2024 Parliament.

So Abdi-Wali did nothing new. She did what dozens of MPs before her have done, in the same room, with the same words.

Photo: Herry Lawford / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

A timeline of holy books in the House of Commons

What has the new MP said about the backlash?

She has not answered the replies directly, as far as we could find. Her stated plans are about the area she grew up in. She wants to cut homelessness, bring more jobs and apprenticeships, and put Thames Water into public ownership.

For her critics, the clip proves their fears about the country's future, the same fears that fill the streets during rows like the Palestine march at the Battle of Britain memorial. For her supporters, it proves something else. A refugee child grew up to sit in the seat of a former prime minister.

Who won the right to choose your own book?

Almost nobody in the replies knew this. The freedom Abdi-Wali used this week was not won by a Muslim, or by any religious MP at all.

It was won by Charles Bradlaugh, an atheist who refused to swear by a God he did not believe in. Parliament kept him out of his seat for six years. His voters sent him back again and again until he got in.

Two years later, the law changed for everyone. Every MP who has sworn on the Quran, the Gita, the Torah, or nothing at all, walked through the door an atheist kicked open in 1888.