Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed kept a book on his shelf written by an Islamic scholar linked to the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist attack. 
The book, called “Dream Interpretation According to the Qur&#8217;an,” was written by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, an Islamic scholar listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the first bombing attack on New York’s World Trade Center. The book was just one of several tied to radical Islam seen on El-Sayed’s shelf in resurfaced documentary footage.
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign said in a statement the bookshelf was not his, but that he &#8220;reads widely.&#8221;
&#8220;This was not Abdul’s bookshelf. Abdul is a doctor and Rhodes Scholar who reads widely, including authors whose views he may disagree with. A book appearing in the background of documentary footage is not an endorsement of its content nor a reflection of his beliefs,&#8221; his campaign said in a statement. 
In the footage, El-Sayed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-abdul-el-sayed-tells-film-crew-to-hide-his-qurans-from-shot">asked</a> the film crew to avoid filming the bookshelf. He told them, “You’re going to want to not get these things in the shot … we’re trying to keep the shot secular.”
The details on El-Sayed’s book collection were <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/abdul-el-sayeds-secret-bookshelf-features-works-from-world-trade-center-bombing-unindicted-co-conspirator-and-radical-islamic-scholars/">flagged</a> by the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday as the Michigan Senate candidate continues to face questions about his ties to radical Islam. A new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayeds-mother-worked-for-terror-group-that-funded-bin-laden-and-taliban?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Abdul+El-Sayed%E2%80%99s+Mother+Worked+For+Terror+Group+That+Funded+Bin+Laden+And+Taliban">report</a> Tuesday showed that El-Sayed’s mother worked for an American-based Islamic charity accused of financing Osama bin Laden.
Throughout his public work and advocacy, Philips <a href="https://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_Contemporary_Issues.pdf">defended</a> Muhammad’s marriage to a young child, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadians-with-alleged-terrorist-links-1.2839246#Dr.%20Abu%20Ameenah%20Bilal%20Philips">appeared</a> to justify suicide bombings as a &#8220;military action,” and has been banned from multiple countries. 
Other books on El-Sayed’s shelf included “Reflections on the Quran” by Irfan Ahmad Khan and “A Thematic Commentary on the Qur&#8217;an” by Sheikh Mohammed al-Ghazali. Khan was “<a href="https://www.islamicity.org/14713/loss-of-eminent-scholar-and-tireless-advocate-of-the-quran-dr-irfan-ahmed-khan/">active</a>” in the movement pushing for India to be governed by Sharia law before he moved to the United States, while Mohammed al-Ghazali was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. 
In the 1990s, Mohammed al-Ghazali <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/07/22/killing-apostates-condoned/68d0d42a-958f-4f42-8ad2-666a1629e2a0/">testified</a> in support of 13 Egyptian terrorists who gunned down a man who did not support Sharia law. During the trial, Mohammed al-Ghazali said that &#8220;the refusal of implementation of Sharia is apostasy,&#8221; adding that the death penalty was an acceptable punishment for apostasy under Islamic law. 
El-Sayed has also faced questions about previous comments he made to The New York Times about committing to following Sharia law. 
“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,” he said in 2009. “Not because of fear but because of obligation.”

MICHIGANDEMS

Abdul El-Sayed Displayed Book Written By Extremist Tied To 1993 World Trade Center Attack

2026 midterm

Abdul El-Sayed

Islam

Islamic Extremism

Michigan

Senate

Abdul El-Sayed, the Muslim socialist-aligned Democrat nominee for Michigan’s open Senate seat, compared his “radical” politics to Jesus, arguing that Christ was also considered a radical in His time.
Newly unearthed audio reviewed by The Daily Wire shows El-Sayed making the unusual comparison during a May interview on “The Progressive Christians Podcast,” when he was asked about left-wing priorities such as Medicare for All, opposition to war, and resisting corporate influence in politics.
“Obviously, Jesus was a healer and very focused on people’s bodies being redeemed, and yet those platforms or policies are being named radical. And we know that you have been referred to as a radical. So, what do you think about that title?” the host asked.
“You know, Jesus, peace and blessings be upon Him, was considered radical in His time too,” El-Sayed said. “And there is a radical nature to being willing to stand forthright in a time of corruption.”
This isn’t the first time El-Sayed has invoked Jesus to justify left-wing politics. Last week, he <a href="https://youtu.be/6NOhIms7QuU?t=886">said</a>, “If you followed the teachings of Jesus Christ, it was about upending the system against the richest and most powerful in the ways that they used their power and their money to subjugate other people. Like, that was the essential teaching.&#8221;
El-Sayed is the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-took-over-a-dog-slaughterhouse-he-admits-hes-not-an-animal-guy">latest</a> of a host of leftist candidates invoking the Christian faith this cycle to win over voters who have largely abandoned the Democratic Party. 
“Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed thinks he’s the second coming of Jesus Christ, here to save America with an extreme socialist agenda,” RNC Spokesperson Hunter Lovell told The Daily Wire. “Jesus isn’t a pawn for political games, and El-Sayed’s radical terrorist-sympathizing ideology is an insult to millions of Christians.”
A survey of Christian voters across denominations last year revealed a staggering collapse in trust in the Democratic Party, with 75% reporting little or no trust in the party, according to data <a href="https://time.com/7294664/they-just-walked-away-new-poll-shows-how-badly-democrats-are-losing-christian-voters-of-all-stripes/">shared with TIME.</a> More than half said they trust the GOP to protect their values, while 70% said they have little or no confidence in the federal government. Adding to the alarm, 61% said life in America has become harder for people of faith over the past decade.
“You can’t be the majority party if you ignore the majority faith in this country,” Doug Pagitt, a leftist pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good, told the outlet. “We know there’s this tension in the party.”
The survey was commissioned following President Donald Trump’s decisive 2024 victory, when he captured an overwhelming share of the Christian vote, winning large majorities among evangelicals and Catholics to secure another term in the White House. 
Fast forward to 2026, and Democratic candidates — who have largely shied away from talking about faith on the campaign trail — are increasingly embracing leftist interpretations of the Bible to make inroads with religious voters. 
Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democratic candidate for Iowa&#8217;s 3rd Congressional District, emphasized her work as a Lutheran minister while campaigning over the weekend.
“Everyone knows me as the pastor. I am a Lutheran minister. I still preach on the weekends, and this month I’m celebrating the 18th anniversary of my ordination,” Trone Garriott <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lefty-pastor-preached-showing-up-then-we-checked-her-record?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Lefty+Pastor+Preached+%E2%80%98Showing+Up.%E2%80%99+Then+We+Checked+Her+Record.">said</a>. “And one thing that I have learned from ministry is to serve a community well; you have got to show up.” 
The leftist minister, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), once claimed that challenges to the traditional definitions of men and women are “very threatening” to white men and downplayed concerns about the dangers of the transgender movement for women, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-democrat-candidate-says-trans-ideology-threatens-the-white-male">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
In Texas, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has likewise emphasized his Christian faith to make inroads with evangelical voters — the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/state/texas/">largest religious group</a> in Texas — by touting his Christian upbringing despite his support for abortion, describing God as “nonbinary,” opposing the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, and his affiliation with a leftist Presbyterian denomination.
“As a Baptist preacher in South Texas, [my grandfather] taught me to follow the two great commandments — love God, and love your neighbor,” Talarico says in a <a href="https://x.com/jamestalarico/status/2087706393247952952?s=20">30-second ad</a> before connecting those teachings to lowering the cost of healthcare, housing, and groceries. 
The strategy comes as Talarico faces a difficult challenge among evangelical voters. A recent Fox News poll found that <a href="https://x.com/JWheelertv/status/2082987392626020796?s=20">78% of white evangelical Christians</a> in the Lone Star State plan to vote against Talarico, despite concerns that Ken Paxton’s (R-TX) personal scandals and marriage struggles could alienate the key demographic. 
“Democrats and the Left are increasingly realizing that rather than simply denigrate Christianity, as they did in the past, they&#8217;re better off trying to appropriate the language of Christianity and to use Jesus as a mascot for wickedness,” The Daily Wire’s Megan Basham <a href="https://x.com/megbasham/status/2014010329575940130?s=20">has argued</a>. 
“Obviously, there&#8217;s nothing Christ-like about that, as anyone with even a passing acquaintance with their Bible knows. But the Left is banking on people not being familiar with their Bibles,” she added.

US-POLITICS-SENATE

WATCH: Abdul El-Sayed Compares His ‘Radical’ Politics to Jesus

2026 elections

Christian

Christianity

Democrats

Faith

Midterms

Mike Rogers

Muslim

News

Politics

Republicans

U.S. Senate

New court records show that the mother of Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed worked for an American-based Islamic charity later designated by the federal government as a terrorism supporter, after the organization was accused of financially supporting Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Hamas.
Fatten Fathy Elkomy, El-Sayed’s birth mother, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency, from 1999 through at least 2004, according to records first reported by the <a href="https://www.themidwesterner.news/2026/08/docs-abdul-el-sayeds-mother-worked-for-designated-terror-group-iara-that-provided-direct-financial-support-to-osama-bin-laden-taliban-hamas">Midwesterner</a>. The Treasury Department designated IARA a global terrorist organization in October 2004.
The Treasury Department <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/js2026">accused</a> IARA’s international offices of providing “direct financial support” to bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations. 
The Treasury designation said IARA had been affiliated with Maktab al-Khidamat, an organization co-founded and financed by bin Laden that was a precursor to al-Qaeda. According to the department, IARA and bin Laden’s network had commingled funds and cooperated in fundraising and spending. An IARA program also worked with an institute controlled by bin Laden that provided assistance to Taliban fighters, Treasury said.
The department further said that information available to the U.S. government showed that overseas IARA branches provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to bin Laden in 1999. 
IARA&#8217;s American operation was later separately prosecuted by the Justice Department over illegal transfers to Iraq. In 2016, IARA-USA <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/iara-pleads-guilty-transferring-nearly-14-million-iraq-violation-sanctions?">pleaded guilty</a> to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and other offenses after secretly transferring $1.375 million to Iraq. 
Federal prosecutors said the organization had used its tax-exempt status to solicit donations while concealing prohibited transfers. The organization was subsequently dissolved. 
Several IARA officials and employees were also prosecuted. Executive Director Mubarak Hamed received nearly five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to illegally transfer more than $1 million to Iraq, obstructing tax laws, and lying to federal agents. Another top IARA fundraiser pleaded guilty to conspiring to lobby for the organization’s removal from a government list of charities suspected of terrorist ties. 
Elkomy was not charged in the federal case or named as a co-conspirator, and the court records cited here do not establish that she knowingly supported terrorism.
In a 2004 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Elkomy defended her work for IARA, saying she was helping orphans and children who had lost a parent. 
“I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” Elkomy said at the time.
Court records from the subsequent IARA prosecution nevertheless reference Elkomy multiple times. According to the Midwesterner’s review of the government&#8217;s proposed exhibit list, her name appears in 14 exhibits, including records involving eight wire transfers and five recorded telephone calls between 1999 and 2002. 
One document concerned an IARA-USA request to transfer $24,607.34 to its Iraq office.
The revelation comes as El-Sayed, who narrowly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-secures-far-lefts-biggest-victory-yet-over-dem-establishment">won the Democratic nomination</a> for Michigan’s open Senate seat earlier this month, campaigns to become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. He will face Republican Mike Rogers in November.
The newly uncovered records add to previously reported connections between El-Sayed’s family and organizations with documented ties to Islamist networks. His father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/abdul-el-sayeds-father-in-law-a-top-donor-to-an-el-sayed-super-pac-is-among-top-leaders-of-muslim-brotherhood-organization-linked-to-terror-funding/">has served</a> on the founding committee of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) since at least 2007 and previously served as president of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Jukaku has also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Fighting for Michigan PAC, a super PAC supporting El-Sayed. 
Both ISNA and CAIR were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case. Federal prosecutors claimed that the Holy Land Foundation funneled more than $12 million to Hamas, while a federal judge later found that the government had presented ample evidence connecting ISNA and CAIR to Hamas. 
The family connections come as El-Sayed has faced scrutiny over his own <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-dedicated-his-life-to-sharia-law">past statements </a>concerning Islam and Sharia law. As a 24-year-old medical student in 2009, El-Sayed told The New York Times that he had chosen a Sharia-compliant mortgage because he did not want to reach the end of his life having failed to follow Islamic law.
“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Sharia-compliant way,” El-Sayed said at the time.
The Daily Wire reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Abdul El-Sayed/Dearborn

Abdul El-Sayed’s Mother Worked For Terror Group That Funded Bin Laden And Taliban

2026 Midterms

CAIR

Democrat

Democratic Party

Department of Justice

Department of the Treasury

Hamas

Islamists

Osama bin Laden

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

Senate Democrats

Taliban

Terror Funding

Terrorism

Treasury

Treasury Department

U.S.

Detroit Public Schools is continuing to expand a program that pays students $100 per week to show up for class.
High school students can continue earning up to $1,000 in Visa gift cards per school year for perfect attendance, while middle school students in grades six through eighth can now earn $50 for each week as well. The program was introduced to combat excessive absenteeism. 
According to <a href="https://themetrodetroitnews.com/detroit-schools-to-continue-100-weekly-perfect-attendance-payments-add-50-for-middle-schoolers/">The Metro Detroit News</a>, 61% of district students missed at least 10% of the school year during the 2024-2025 school year. 
The program launched in 2024 and returned for the 2025-2026 school year. &#8220;Detroit Public Schools Community District is excited to announce the return of its highly successful Perfect Attendance Pays initiative for the 2026 Winter Term,&#8221; the district <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/detroit-public-schools-students-could-earn-up-1000-weekly-payments-attending-class">announced</a> in a press release on December 4, 2025.
&#8220;Research consistently shows that regular attendance is one of the strongest predictors of academic success. DPSCD students who miss 18 or fewer days per year are 3 to 5 times more likely to perform at or above grade level and be college-ready. The Perfect Attendance Pays initiative aims to keep students engaged during the winter months, a period when attendance often dips and learning momentum is crucial,&#8221; it said.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District voted in June to <a href="https://www.michiganpublic.org/education/2026-06-17/detroit-schools-aim-to-reduce-absenteeism-support-teachers-in-1-1-billion-budget">adopt a $1.1 billion budget</a> for the 2026-2027 school year. The plan allocated funds for increased security, pay raises for all employees, more bus routes, and payments to students for attending school. 
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti blamed state legislators for not “understanding” how education funding was used.
“Admittedly, I think at some level there&#8217;s an ignorance and a lack of understanding of how dollars work and how schools run,” Vitti said during the board meeting. “I think the other element is, you know, there&#8217;s folks that feel like K-12 is overfunded and they don&#8217;t want to support K-12 funding.”
According to <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2025/08/20/detroit-schools-skipping-absentee-truancy-parents-kids/85732201007/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=false&amp;gca-epti=z1119xxp001150c001150u002357e1119xxv003057&amp;gca-ft=194&amp;gca-ds=sophi">the Detroit Free Press</a>, more than 50% of Detroit-based students regularly miss class. The $100 payments are based solely on attendance and have no GPA requirements or other academic measures.

school hallway

School District Expands Controversial Plan To Pay Kids Just For Showing Up

Detroit

High School

Public Schools

Years after overseeing the euthanasia of over four thousand dogs and cats, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed said that he was “not much of an animal guy” while taking credit for rebuilding animal control in Detroit. 
The comments came seven years after the Michigan Democrat ran Detroit animal control as it faced scrutiny over its sky-high euthanasia rates. El-Sayed’s handling of animal control while leading public health in Detroit emerged in recent days after The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16047667/Abdul-El-Sayed-oversaw-animal-slaughterhouse-4-000-puppies-kittens-killed-watch.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_dailymailus">revealed</a> that 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized during his two-year tenure. 
“It&#8217;s going to be no surprise to our listeners here that I&#8217;m not much of an animal guy. Like, you know, I love people, and I think that, like, that makes up for it,” El-Sayed said on an April  30, 2024 episode of his <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1uCRLpjMxwV5idjchxgQh5">podcast</a>. “And I love animals, and I feel like given our work together in the city, I&#8217;ve done justice to animal kind. Many, many nights working to save many animals.”
Locked in a Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed has faced numerous controversies over past comments he made on his podcast and other media appearances. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-scrubs-video-revealing-second-amendment-plans?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Abdul+El-Sayed+Scrubs+Video+Revealing+Second+Amendment+Plans">argued</a> that “fireworks suck,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-likened-bacon-to-plutonium?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Abdul+El-Sayed+Likened+Bacon+To+Plutonium">likened</a> bacon to plutonium, and said he hated beloved Michigan tourist hotspot Mackinac Island. 
His views toward animals resurfaced after The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16047667/Abdul-El-Sayed-oversaw-animal-slaughterhouse-4-000-puppies-kittens-killed-watch.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_dailymailus">published</a> a report detailing El-Sayed’s time overseeing animal control. El-Sayed, who ran the Detroit Department of Public Health, took the helm of Detroit Animal Care and Control at the end of 2015 when the city transferred control under his jurisdiction. That came as animal control faced whistleblower complaints describing the entity as a &#8220;slaughterhouse.&#8221; 
Just after taking over, El-Sayed <a href="https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/detroit-denies-7-action-news-an-interview-with-new-director-of-animal-control-as-she-begins-work">reportedly</a> banned one local Detroit outlet from interviewing the head of animal control because of negative stories the outlet wrote on unnecessary animal killings. 
El-Sayed discussed his experience running animal control during the April 2024 podcast with one of his former colleagues.
“I&#8217;ll be the first to tell you, I&#8217;m more of a people person than an animal person, but I learned to love the furry creatures, and I have to believe that I&#8217;ve done my duty by them,” he said. While noting that he had two cats, El-Sayed said he liked to keep his distance from animals. 
“I appreciate them, and I want to see them thrive,” El-Sayed said of animals. “They do them, and I do me.”
During the podcast, El-Sayed claimed credit for reducing animal euthanasia rates. He said that nearly eight in ten animals entering animal control were killed when he took over, but said that had reversed by the time he left to mount a failed bid for governor. 
Shortly after The Daily Mail published its story, El-Sayed released a campaign <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DrAbdulElSayed/posts/proud-to-have-worked-alongside-director-miller-at-detroit-animal-care-and-contro/1596002951896980/">video</a> featuring one of his former colleagues defending their time running animal control.
<div class="xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs x126k92a">
<div dir="auto">&#8220;Proud to have worked alongside Director Miller at Detroit Animal Care and Control when I led the Detroit Health Department,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Together, we helped dramatically increase placements into loving homes.</div>
</div>
<div class="x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a">
<div dir="auto">Animal care is a public health issue.&#8221;</div>
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<div dir="auto"></div>
<div dir="auto">Hasan Piker, one of El-Sayed&#8217;s associates, has <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/peta-responds-hasan-piker-dog-abuse-controversy-1236396303/">faced accusations</a> that he shocked his dog with a shock collar during one of his Twitch streams.</div>

MixCollage-18-Aug-2026-01-58-PM-6665

Abdul El-Sayed Took Over A Dog ‘Slaughterhouse.’ He Admits He’s Not An ‘Animal Guy.’

Abdul El-Sayed Admits He's Not An 'Animal Guy' After Taking Over Dog 'Slaughterhouse'

Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will spend Labor Day weekend speaking at a Muslim conference alongside an antisemitic cleric who said he forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage.
El-Sayed, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Michigan, is slated to speak at the Islamic Society of North America&#8217;s annual convention, held in Detroit from September 4-7, The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/abdul-el-sayed-to-headline-islamic-event-alongside-pakistani-cleric-who-forced-his-13-year-old-niece-into-marriage-was-denounced-for-pedophilic-rhetoric/">reported</a>. ISNA was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 federal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, and a judge ruled in 2009 that the government had presented &#8220;ample evidence&#8221; tying the group to Hamas.
Also on the convention roster is Tariq Masood, a Pakistani cleric who has urged followers to marry off their young female relatives, citing his own niece&#8217;s marriage at 13.
Masood is scheduled to moderate a panel on &#8220;avoiding mental illness in youth&#8221; aimed at addressing how parents &#8220;can prevent or minimize the impact of any trauma leading to a mental illness.&#8221; He will moderate that session alongside ISNA president Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, who is separately listed on El-Sayed&#8217;s own panel, <a href="https://isna.net/annual-convention">according</a> to the convention itinerary.
Masood has also preached against Jews. In a 2024 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvnB-DBRR4">sermon</a> titled &#8220;The Final Humiliation of the Jews,&#8221; he said Jews&#8217; &#8220;cunning minds&#8221; had worked to bring the world under their control, according to translations reviewed by the Free Beacon. &#8220;The Quran condemns Jews,&#8221; he said, adding that &#8220;not all Jews are the same&#8221; before claiming no other community in the world matched Jews for &#8220;evil and turmoil.&#8221;
The El-Sayed campaign told The Daily Wire on Saturday that the Democrat &#8220;does not endorse&#8221; anyone speaking at the conference.
&#8220;Abdul is not affiliated with and does not endorse any other participant of the conference,&#8221; a spokeswoman for the campaign said. &#8220;He is scheduled to participate in a different panel at the ISNA conference to speak on unity and commitment to justice in public service.&#8221;
El-Sayed is scheduled to speak on a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DbtLp_ZDRqJ/">panel</a> titled &#8220;Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America.&#8221; Ahmad is listed on that panel as well, alongside Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks founder and uncle of America-hating streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed&#8217;s panel discussion is advertised as a way to push Muslim Americans and their faith into the public square.
&#8220;In this storm, remaining principled, morally clear, and emotionally steady is essential for Muslim Americans,&#8221; the ISNA wrote. &#8220;ISNA meets the moment by framing taqwa (God-Awareness) not only as personal piety but as a public strategy for success. It urges the Muslim community to mobilize taqwa to uphold unity, ethical integrity, and an uncompromised commitment to justice. This session turns taqwa into actionable guidance, equipping participants not merely to survive but to thrive in workplaces, schools, digital spaces, and community life — and to succeed on their own terms.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1158539 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-15T084637.462-477x576.jpg" alt="" width="477" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-15T084637.462-477x576.jpg 477w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-15T084637.462-248x300.jpg 248w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-15T084637.462-768x928.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-15T084637.462.jpg 993w" sizes=" (max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" /></div>
&nbsp;
El-Sayed&#8217;s ties to ISNA are also familial and financial. His father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, has sat on the group&#8217;s founders committee since at least 2007 and also serves on the board of CAIR&#8217;s Michigan chapter, according to the Free Beacon. Jukaku has given $300,000 to a super PAC backing El-Sayed&#8217;s Senate bid.
Another scheduled speaker is Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn imam who testified as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman, the &#8220;blind sheikh&#8221; convicted in 1995 of plotting a wave of New York terror attacks. Prosecutors listed Wahhaj among roughly 170 people who might be named as co-conspirators in that case, though he was never charged and the lead prosecutor <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/siraj-wahhaj-and-the-1993-world-trade-center-bombing-again/amp/">has said</a> inclusion on the list did not mean the government alleged he was a conspirator.
The leftist Democratic Senate nominee narrowly won his party&#8217;s primary earlier this month pushing a far-Left agenda that includes Medicare for all and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the recent past, he has also called to defund the police and restructure the U.S. Supreme Court, both issues that are pushed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). While El-Sayed has said that he doesn&#8217;t identify as a socialist, the Democrat rode a wave of DSA support in his primary election.
El-Sayed campaigned alongside Hasan Piker ahead of the primary and has resisted calls to cut ties with him, dismissing Piker&#8217;s claim that &#8220;America deserved 9/11&#8221; as a &#8220;dumb statement.&#8221; Asked on Meet the Press whether he would campaign with the communist streamer again, El-Sayed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wacRksAPl4s">said</a> he was &#8220;a lot more focused on who I&#8217;m campaigning to.&#8221;
El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in the November general election.

Abdul El-Sayed/Tariq Masood

El-Sayed To Headline Convention With Cleric Who Loves Child Marriage

Cenk Uygur

Election

Hasan Piker

Muslims

Pedophilia

In the battle for the Michigan U.S. Senate seat, one demographic is sticking out like a sore thumb.
Fresh Fox News polling out of Michigan reveals a dramatic political schism in the high-stakes Senate matchup between Republican Mike Rogers and far-left Democrat Abdul El-Sayed: white, college-educated women have completely broken ranks with the rest of the state’s white electorate.
While every other major white demographic subgroup swings heavily toward Rogers, diploma-holding white women are fleeing to the Left. Non-college white men back Rogers with a staggering 63% to El-Sayed’s 37%. College-educated white men go for Rogers 55% to 43%. Even non-college white women comfortably favor the Republican 60% to 38%.
Then comes the glaring anomaly: college-educated white women are backing the radical progressive El-Sayed by a massive 60% to 37% margin. That’s a 23-point blowout that runs entirely counter to the rest of the demographic map.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
From the Fox poll, Rogers vs. el Sayed in Michigan: 
White men, no college degree: Rogers 63 el Sayed 37 
White men, college degree: Rogers 55 el Sayed 43 
White women, no college degree: Rogers 60 el Sayed 38 
White women, college degree: Rogers 37 el Sayed 60
— Byron York (@ByronYork) <a href="https://x.com/ByronYork/status/2088084667295556065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This Great Lakes divide isn&#8217;t an isolated anomaly; it&#8217;s the culmination of a massive, decade-long political realignment. Data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/blog/gender-differences-2024-presidential-vote">showed</a> college-educated white women backing Hillary Clinton by 7 points in 2016, Joe Biden by 9 points in 2020, and Kamala Harris by a crushing 17 points in 2024. Exit poll data compiled by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/politics/2020-2016-exit-polls-2024-dg/">CNN</a> and <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20201124/281509343737030">Catalist</a> testified to this massive swing, noting this demographic went from evenly split in the Obama-Romney era to an overwhelmingly reliable blue wall.
Research from <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/watch-the-power-of-the-educated-white-female-vote-in-election-2016/">Brookings</a>, <a href="https://archive.news.virginia.edu/content/what-exit-polls-are-telling-us/">UVA Today</a>, and <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-college-degree-divide-is-becoming-a-chasm">The Chronicle of Higher Education </a>confirmed that higher education has created this massive chasm.
What’s driving this sharp shift? Demographics offer a clear answer: a massive surge in single, unmarried voters who lean hard to the Left.
According to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisanship-by-gender-sexual-orientation-marital-and-parental-status/">Pew Research</a>, never-married women are roughly three times as likely to identify as Democrats compared to Republicans. As <a href="https://www.aei.org/commentary/all-the-single-democratic-ladies/">American Enterprise Institute scholars</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/202412/marital-status-in-voting-a-vital-factor-mostly-ignored">Psychology </a><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/202412/marital-status-in-voting-a-vital-factor-mostly-ignored" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Today</a> analyses show, marital status has quietly become a far stronger political predictor than gender alone.
AEI data reveals that in recent congressional cycles, a paltry 31% to 37% of unmarried women supported GOP candidates, while married voters across the board leaned conservative. Studies from the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.13058">Journal of Marriage and </a><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.13058" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Family </a>trace this &#8220;marriage gap&#8221; back decades, confirming that single, college-educated women form the bedrock of modern Democratic coalitions.
As Michigan heads toward the ballot box, Rogers holds strong ground among blue-collar workers and married households.
But as the numbers show, Michigan’s single, college-educated women seem more than willing to hand the keys to the far-Left.

US-ELECTIONS-VOTE-MICHIGAN

Surprise! A Key Voting Bloc Is Ditching The GOP For A Far-Left Candidate

Surprise! College-Educated White Women Ditch GOP’s Mike Rogers For Far-Left El-Sayed

College

White women

Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed once compared bacon to plutonium, arguing that the nuclear material and popular breakfast meat were closely linked to cancer.
El-Sayed made the comparison in a now-private YouTube video, lamenting that bacon, salami, and baloney were “class 1 carcinogens” and comparable to plutonium, a radioactive element. The video was scrubbed from YouTube as part of a recent purge by El-Sayed, in which he privatized content advocating for leftist views. 
“You know what else is a class 1 carcinogen? Plutonium. That’s right. The stuff that we make nuclear weapons out of. Yeah, that’s also a carcinogen,” El-Sayed said, <a href="https://freebeacon.substack.com/p/dont-bring-home-the-bacon-abdul-el?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc22063ef-320b-4bab-a858-dd852ebd33b4_1707x1280.jpeg&amp;open=false">according</a> to a transcript of the scrubbed July 2023 video viewed by the Washington Free Beacon. 
“Now, how come bacon and plutonium are in the same class?” he added. “Well, because it just comes down to the quality of evidence. Research has demonstrated that both of these things, bacon and plutonium, are definitively linked in well-designed, well-executed population studies with cancer.”
El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate to replace outgoing Senator Gary Peters, has faced controversy in recent days over the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-scrubs-video-revealing-second-amendment-plans">video purge</a>. In the videos, El-Sayed argued that the Second Amendment should be replaced with the “right to have health care” and said that &#8220;fireworks suck.&#8221; Other videos circulated online showing El-Sayed ripping into the popular Michigan tourist destination of Mackinac Island and arguing that football was tainted by “toxic masculinity.” 
The Michigan Democrat also deleted numerous calls to defund the police and a post from Thanksgiving Day in 2019 in which he argued that the holiday was a “Time for Reparations.” 
“Just a reminder this #Thanksgiving. This country was built on the systematic annihilation of Indigenous Peoples, whose ancestors suffer some of the highest rates of homelessness, joblessness, and mortality today,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-vilified-beloved-american-holiday-pushed-for-day-of-reparations-instead?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Abdul+El-Sayed+Vilified+Beloved+American+Holiday%2C+Pushed+For+Day+Of+Reparations+Instead">posted</a>. “We owe so much more than ‘thanks.’ Time for Reparations.&#8221;
Republicans have highlighted El-Sayed&#8217;s comments to argue that he is out of touch with everyday Michigan voters. El-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers in a race that could prove pivotal for control of the Senate. Cook Political Report currently rates the race as a toss-up. 
While El-Sayed distances himself from some of his past advocacy, his platform includes abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and taking “public control” of artificial intelligence companies.

Michigan Democratic Senate Primary Winner Abdul El-Sayed Holds News Conference Day After Primary Win

Abdul El-Sayed Likened Bacon To Plutonium

Michigan Democratic Senatorial Candidate Abdul El-Sayed told a documentary crew in 2018 to hide his Qurans while filming a behind-the-scenes look at his run for Governor of Michigan. 
He and his wife were showing off their wedding pictures when El-Sayed abruptly paused, looked behind him at a bookshelf, and said, “You&#8217;re going to want to not get these things in the shot … we&#8217;re trying to keep the shot secular.” Those “things” were his Quran and other religious items. 
“Oh, okay. I don’t think we did,” a crew member responded. The documentary footage conflicts with a resurfaced 2009 New York Times <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-interview-reveals-el-sayeds-sharia-obligation-not-because-fear">interview</a> in which El-Sayed, then a 24-year-old medical student, said he sought a Sharia-compliant mortgage out of religious obligation. Some traditional interpretations of Sharia law call for severe penalties for apostasy and impose restrictions on women, while historical interpretations have also permitted child marriage.
&#8220;Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,&#8221; El-Sayed told the New York Times. &#8220;Not because of fear but because of obligation.&#8221;
Hiding his Quran isn’t the only resurfaced clip drawing attention. In the documentary, he trashed one of Michigan’s most beloved vacation spots. “I hate Mackinac so much,” he said in the 2020 documentary that followed his failed run for governor in 2018. “Every time I’ve ever come here, I’ve hated it. Why am I here?”
However, when provided the opportunity to walk back the comments, El-Sayed instead doubled down. “I don’t think the most &#8216;American place in [Michigan]&#8217; can be a place that … bans cars,” he <a href="https://x.com/AbdulElSayed/status/2085802461273432560?s=20">wrote</a> on X. The car-free island is home to the Michigan governor’s official summer residence, a property the state has used to host political events since 1945. With no motor vehicles allowed on the island, travel is restricted to horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and on foot. El-Sayed’s opponent, Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative, wasted no time making sure Michigan voters knew where he stood on the matter. 
“There’s no place like Mackinac,” Rogers <a href="https://x.com/MikeRogersForMI/status/2085799879905771713">said</a>, sharing personal photos of him spending time on the island. El-Sayed is also facing criticism for his comments on football. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-hates-football-too">criticized</a> football for being a breeding ground for “toxic masculinity.” 
El-Sayed suggested that football coaches follow the example of Ted Lasso, the main character in the popular Apple TV+ series, whom he held up as a model of masculinity and coaching. “Ted cries. He talks through his problems. He encourages his players. He bakes biscuits (er, cookies) for his boss. He smiles … like, all the time,” El-Sayed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-hates-football-too">wrote</a> on his Substack.

WATCH: Abdul El-Sayed Tells Film Crew To Hide His Qurans From Shot

Documentaries

Quran

Senatorial Race

Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed once said that one of America&#8217;s favorite holidays should be a day for “reparations.” 
El-Sayed argued on Thanksgiving Day in 2019 that the United States was built on the “systematic annihilation” of American Indians and said they should be given reparations. The anti-Thanksgiving post resurfaced as the Michigan Democrat faces questions about his calls to cancel Fourth of July fireworks, hatred for Mackinac Island, and “toxic” masculinity critique of football. 
&#8220;Just a reminder this #Thanksgiving. This country was built on the systematic annihilation of Indigenous Peoples, whose ancestors suffer some of the highest rates of homelessness, joblessness, and mortality today,” El-Sayed posted. “We owe so much more than &#8216;thanks.’ Time for Reparations.&#8221; 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1156907" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-13-at-7.15.46-AM.png" alt="" width="1410" height="935" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-13-at-7.15.46-AM.png 1410w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-13-at-7.15.46-AM-300x199.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-13-at-7.15.46-AM-869x576.png 869w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-13-at-7.15.46-AM-768x509.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1410px) 100vw, 1410px" />
He replied to the post to clarify that he meant to say &#8220;descendants&#8221; instead of &#8220;ancestors.&#8221; 
El-Sayed deleted the post at some point, but not before it was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191129010858/https://twitter.com/AbdulElSayed/status/1200219047784337408">archived</a> online. The post was first <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/michigans-el-sayed-endorsed-reparations-for-indigenous-peoples-in-deleted-tweet-attacking-thanksgiving/">reported</a> by The Washington Free Beacon in May 2026. El-Sayed has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-scrubs-video-revealing-second-amendment-plans">scrubbed numerous posts</a> and videos as he gears up for what is expected to be a tight race against Republican Mike Rogers. 
His reparations proposal mirrors comments made by Thanksgiving-hater Francesca Hong, who narrowly lost her bid to be the Democrat gubernatorial nominee in Wisconsin on Tuesday. She <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/socialist-governor-hopeful-has-kamala-moment-when-asked-about-canceling-thanksgiving">pushed</a> for Thanksgiving to be canceled in a November 2020 social media post and struggled to explain her stance in subsequent interviews on the campaign trail.
&#8220;Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621,&#8221; she said at the time. &#8220;If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx [sic] and women, so be it.”
Conservative commenters pointed out that El-Sayed&#8217;s anti-Thanksgiving message was posted even before Hong posted her thoughts on it.
“Not for nothing but the dream of killing Thanksgiving was alive and well in Abdul El-Sayed long before Hong came along,” <a href="https://x.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/2087676446269383049">said</a> Scott Jennings. 
The Thanksgiving post was not the only time El-Sayed has argued in favor of reparations.
&#8220;I believe we owe it to engage in reparations. &#8230; There are so many ways in which we need to have a conversation about reparations. We need to invest in reparations. We need reparations in this country,&#8221; he said in a campaign stop in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCySqJOGjMA&amp;t=12s">video</a> posted by The Gander.
Other posts deleted by El-Sayed include comments in which he argued for defunding the police, suggested the Second Amendment should be traded out for the “right to have health care,” and that “fireworks suck.” He also attacked Michigan’s beloved Mackinac Island and <a href="https://x.com/Bobby_LaVallley/status/2086877217779270136">claimed</a> football was a breeding ground for “toxic masculinity.”

Abdul El-Sayed Vilified Beloved American Holiday, Pushed For Day Of Reparations Instead

Thanksgiving

A visit to Michigan from potential 2028 presidential candidate Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) was characterized by botched meetings and fundraisers, according to a new report. 
Newsom spent the first half of this week campaigning and fundraising for Democrats in Michigan while stopping for a photo op at the University of Michigan&#8217;s famed “Big House” football stadium. The visit to the critical swing state didn’t exactly go as planned, according to a <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/08/12/newsoms-swing-and-miss-state-tour-01035105">report</a> from Politico’s Playbook. 
Politico reported on Wednesday that interviews with multiple Michigan Democrats raised &#8220;questions about the coastal leader’s resonance in the middle of the country and political operation following one of his most in-depth, high-touch early state trips this year.”
Newsom has long been considered one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination, but some recent polls show his chances falling. One <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-new-2028-poll-just-shook-up-both-parties">survey</a> out of New Hampshire showed Newsom trailing Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) by 14 points and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg by 13 points.
An unnamed Democrat “insider” told Politico that Newsom&#8217;s Michigan trip was “rushed” while another person rated the trip as a “B-minus.&#8221;
Several top Democrats in the state also said they missed out on connecting with Newsom. Democratic National Committee Black Caucus chair Virgie Rollins complained that she didn’t get a meeting with Newsom — even though Politico reported a representative for Newsom did reach out to her on August 7. 
“Every Democratic president that has won an election has been in my house,” she said. “I did not hear from him. I did not get a call.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), a member of the influential Rules and Bylaws Committee for the DNC, said she did not meet with Newsom either. She referenced her support for auto manufacturing while Newsom has pushed stringent environmental standards that aim to ban the sale or production of gas vehicles by 2035. 
“I didn’t hear from the governor. I didn&#8217;t expect to: I’m a car girl,” she said. 
Additionally, a meeting between the powerful United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain did not happen despite efforts from the Newsom team. 
During the trip, two scheduled fundraiser appearances by Newsom fell through. One was for state House Democrats that ended up being called off by participants, while another for Democrat attorney general candidate Eli Savit was canceled by Newsom. That event was set to feature fundraiser Kelly Neumann, who has faced backlash for a Veterans Day post where she <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/21/us-news/michigans-abdul-el-sayed-to-attend-fundraiser-hosted-by-lawyer-in-nazi-flap/">revealed</a> her grandfather “was on the German side in WWI &amp; WWII.” 
Newsom did meet with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel. He also met with Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin.
“I doubt that it will be the governor’s last time here,” Hertel said. “There will be plenty of opportunities the next time he’s here, too.”

Governor Newsom press conference in Oakland, California

Gavin Newsom Gets Rude Awakening During Swing-State Visit

2028 presidential election

Gavin Newsom

U.S. Politics

As a 24-year-old medical student, Abdul El-Sayed sat down with The New York Times in 2009 to discuss buying his first home. He had chosen a Sharia-compliant mortgage for a $123,000 condominium in Ann Arbor. The arrangement avoided interest, which Islamic law prohibits. 
El-Sayed explained his decision. “Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way. Not because of fear but because of obligation,” he <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/revealed-el-sayed-proclaimed-obligation-to-follow-sharia-law-until-the-day-he-dies/">told</a> the outlet. 
That statement, unearthed this week, now sits beside his narrow primary win last week as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan. He would be the first Muslim elected to the chamber if he prevails in November against Republican Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed’s campaign says the commitment remains personal. Spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Washington Free Beacon that he “personally lives by the rules of his faith, as many Americans of various faiths do,” while opposing any effort to write religious law into the laws of the country. She added that he “believes in the separation of church and state.”
The same language of personal faith appears in more recent comments. In October 2025, he <a href="https://religionnews.com/2026/08/05/abdul-el-sayed-could-be-the-first-muslim-senator-heres-what-to-know/">told</a> Religion News Service that his faith “orients me to try and be a better person” and to “treat people — all people — with dignity and humanity and respect.” He has also said he wants to “protect the kind of America where everybody can pray how they choose to pray, or choose not to pray at all.”
Yet the record shows moments when the subject of Sharia itself produced sharper reactions. During his 2018 run for Michigan governor, El-Sayed denied ever saying he was “Sharia-compliant” in an interview with Laura Loomer, then ended the conversation and scolded staff for allowing it. 
A documentary about that campaign, How To Fix A Primary, captured him directing filmmakers away from a bookshelf in his home. 
The shelves held the Quran and reportedly a volume by Sheikh Mohammed al-Ghazali, a Muslim Brotherhood member who once testified that refusal to implement Sharia is apostasy and that an Egyptian professor killed for advocating church-state separation was “without doubt” an infidel. “You’re going to want to not get these things in the shot,” El-Sayed said. “We’re trying to keep the shot secular.”
In October 2022, speaking to the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, El-Sayed linked a 2010 ballot measure that sought to ban Sharia law in state courts to the Trail of Tears, the Tulsa race massacre, and the Oklahoma City bombing, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/michigan-senate-candidate-abdul-el-sayed-compared-an-oklahoma-ban-on-sharia-law-to-the-trail-of-tears/">according</a> to The Washington Free Beacon.
“You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding white supremacy,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you that the same exact forces that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago, and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, that those forces are alive and well today.”
His personal life has long reflected the same framework. A 2006 Michigan Daily profile described him as a “particularly devout” Muslim. He proposed to Sarah Jukaku, who wears a hijab, while both were still in college because “Islamically, there are no premarital relations of any sort. No touching, no nothing. Given that, the logical solution is to get married.” 
They followed a traditional two-step Islamic marriage and lived apart, remaining chaste, for the first year. “Getting ice cream is the number one thing we do together,” he said at the time. Jukaku rarely appears at campaign events and was absent from the primary watch party. The couple has two young daughters. El-Sayed has not publicly addressed whether he expects them to follow the same rules on courtship, marriage, and modesty.
Financial disclosures show he and his wife hold between $150,000 and $425,000 in Amana Mutual Funds, which screen out companies earning more than 5 percent of revenue from interest, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pornography, or pork. 
The late cofounder and chairman of those funds, Yaqub Mirza, was identified in a 1988 FBI memo as one of several “members and leaders of the IKHWAN,” the Arabic term for the Muslim Brotherhood. Federal agents raided Mirza’s home in 2002 as part of an investigation into the Safa Group. No charges resulted, and Amana itself faced little further scrutiny.
Familial <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-hearing-pulls-back-curtain-on-muslim-brotherhoods-ties-to-hamas?author=Leona+Salinas&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Link+Between+Hamas+And+The+Muslim+Brotherhood+In+America%3F+Here%E2%80%99s+The+Evidence">connections</a> extend further into the network examined at a Senate hearing last week. El-Sayed’s father-in-law previously served as president of CAIR Michigan and sat on the founders committee of the Islamic Society of North America. 
Both organizations appeared in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history, in which the foundation and five leaders were convicted of providing material support to Hamas. CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator. A 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document recovered by the FBI described the group’s work in North America as “a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.”
In Michigan, some imams have framed the Senate race in religious terms. One, <a href="https://www.themidwesterner.news/2026/08/abdul-el-sayeds-shariah-compliant-home-mortgage-underscores-deep-devotion-to-islam/">speaking</a> at an American Muslim Diversity Association mosque in Sterling Heights in July, urged congregants to vote for “a legitimate Islamic objective,” cited a fatwa from the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America, and named El-Sayed as the candidate who could become the first Muslim U.S. senator. He also mentioned Rep. Rashida Tlaib as a “sister” already representing the community in Congress.
El-Sayed’s own account of returning to faith after a period of distance revolves around his Egyptian grandmother and the character of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Daily Wire reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment. No response was received prior to publication.

Democratic Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Holds Primary Night Event In Detroit

Abdul El-Sayed Dedicated His Life To Sharia Law

Muslim Brotherhood

Sharia Law

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