At a Senate campaign rally in a red-leaning Michigan county this weekend, a young man asked Democrat Abdul El-Sayed if he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
The heated exchange quickly went viral.
“Sure. Yeah, absolutely,” El-Sayed replied. “Why are you asking the question?”
El-Sayed, who would be the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected, has been asked frequently about the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that was founded in Egypt in 1928 that has produced several offshoots: Some are legitimate political parties, and others are extremist groups, such as Hamas and al-Qaeda.
Last November, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to designate certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.
El-Sayed compared the questions he receives about whether he has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood to the anti-Catholic questions John F. Kennedy received on the presidential campaign trail about whether had any allegiance to the pope.
He questioned the man, who identified himself as “Tommy” and a Christian, on whether he would disavow any attempt to read any religious doctrine into the nation’s laws. “I do not,” the man replied..
“I think it’s you who needs to understand the Constitution, not me,” El-Sayed said, as Tommy left the rally in Caro, one of four stops Saturday for El-Sayed through stretches of Michigan that voted for Donald Trump in 2024.
El-Sayed is locked in a tight race in this swing state, polling slightly ahead of Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former congressman with ties to Trump. Republicans have focused heavily on El-Sayed’s Muslim identity since he won the Democratic Party’s tightly contested primary Aug. 4. He is the son of Egyptian immigrants and was born and raised in Michigan.
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