WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Abdul El-Sayed disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood after a man questioned him during a Michigan Senate campaign rally.
  • El-Sayed said the question implied that his Muslim faith could give him “dual loyalties.”
  • Old posts from El-Sayed’s half sister referenced their mother’s alleged activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 1970s.
  • El-Sayed denied that he or his family has ties to the organization and called the assumption “an insane thing to assume.”
  • If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim senator in the United States.

Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed confronted a shouted question about the Muslim Brotherhood during a campaign rally in Michigan on Saturday. The exchange quickly spread online after a man in the crowd asked, “Abdul, will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?”

El-Sayed disavowed the movement, then challenged the premise behind the question. “What are you implying? Do you assume that I wouldn’t?” he responded during the increasingly pointed encounter.

The man identified himself as Tommy and said he had not previously heard El-Sayed disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed argued that the question carried an implicit suggestion that his Muslim faith meant he might have “dual loyalties.”

El-Sayed then emphasized the oath he would take if elected to the Senate and pointed to constitutional protections for religious practice. “I am going to swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States, and that Constitution guarantees us all the right to practice whatever faith we want or no faith at all,” he said.

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According to El-Sayed, the rally exchange was not the first time he had encountered questions of that nature. He compared the situation to questions John F. Kennedy faced during his presidential campaign about his Catholic faith and his relationship with the pope.

El-Sayed also drew a distinction between his religious identity and the office he is seeking. “I am running for the U.S. Senate, and I happen to be Muslim,” he said.

Before the Saturday rally, El-Sayed had pushed back against questions attempting to connect him to the Muslim Brotherhood. He told NewsNation that his campaign is focused on the concerns of voters rather than allegations that he considers rooted in Islamophobia.

Questions surrounding El-Sayed intensified after old social media posts from his half-sister were discovered online. One post from 2012 described her having “an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college.”

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El-Sayed has denied allegations that either he or his family has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. He described such an assumption as “an insane thing to assume.”

In addressing the post, El-Sayed said he was three years old when his parents divorced. He also said he did not know what his mother was doing in Egypt during the 1970s because he did not see her for years after he was raised by his father and stepmother.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt and once held significant influence. The movement officially rejects using violent means to accomplish its goals, although offshoots of the organization have previously been linked to attacks, according to reporting by CNN.

El-Sayed was also asked whether he should respond to the accusations more aggressively. He said his priority was representing people facing cost of living pressures and other problems, rather than spending his campaign defending himself against the allegations.

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“I’m not here to defend myself,” El-Sayed said. “I’m here to defend all the folks whose lives are made worse by this administration.”

If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim senator in the United States. During the past several months, he has also faced comments hostile to Muslims from multiple political figures.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville called El-Sayed a “terrorist,” according to the New York Times. Nancy Mace said “every single Muslim holding public office in America” is “a threat to both national security and our republic,” while President Donald Trump previously said there were “jihadists being elected all over the place.”

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