Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Faces Scrutiny Over Conference Participation

Democratic Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is under scrutiny following his presence at a convention hosted by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The event attracted attention after the organization removed a Pakistani cleric, Mufti Tariq Masood, from its speaker lineup. Masood had drawn criticism for past comments regarding Hitler, Jews, and jihad.

Masood was initially scheduled to speak at ISNA’s annual convention in Detroit. However, reports emerged that ISNA had quietly excluded him after backlash arose concerning his remarks. Dr. Andrew Bostom noted that Masood claimed the Quran had foreshadowed Hitler over a millennium ago.

“Masood is a racist, Jew-hate-mongering, anti-American, anti-British, conspiracy-promoting, murder- and terror-inciter,” wrote Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, requesting a review of Masood’s visa status.

Despite Masood’s removal, questions linger about the event’s speakers and El-Sayed’s involvement. At the conference, El-Sayed shared a panel with Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks, and Zaid Shakir, a New Jersey-based cleric. The session, “Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America,” aimed to equip attendees to thrive in various aspects of life with God-awareness, or taqwa.

Both Uygur and Shakir have faced controversy. In February, Uygur expressed doubts about the official 9/11 narrative. Shakir, identified as “extremely anti-American,” has promoted resistant political action.

El-Sayed’s participation in the ISNA convention is especially significant as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Further controversy arose over El-Sayed’s now-deleted tweets from 2021, where he reflected on 9/11 and subsequent U.S. actions abroad.

“Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I’ll mourn ~1M lives, millions of injuries, & infrastructural devastation in 3 countries, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my country,” El-Sayed wrote.

Addressing ISNA attendees, El-Sayed discussed anti-Muslim sentiment. “They want to tell us that we don’t belong,” he remarked. El-Sayed had previously drawn attention for collaborating with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, criticized for stating “America deserved 9/11.” While El-Sayed criticized these remarks, he has not disavowed Piker.

Fox News Digital contacted El-Sayed and ISNA for further comment.