Report: El-Sayed sought support at Islamic centers where clerics prayed for ‘revenge’ on Zionists

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed sought support at Islamic centers where clerics prayed for God’s “revenge” on Zionists and described the United States as the “House of Shaitan,” or Satan, according to the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank. The news comes as a recent YouGov/MSU poll shows El-Sayed lagging with Catholic voters likely to participate in the election. 

At the Islamic Center of Detroit, El-Sayed addressed a livestreamed Ramadan prayer service in March, before the Aug. 4 primary, and asked worshipers for signatures to put him on the ballot, according to Just the News. The Middle East Forum’s database dates a closing prayer in Arabic at the center’s March 13 service, which called for “the worst revenge” on Zionists in the forum’s translation. Just the News said it is unclear whether El-Sayed was still present for that prayer.

The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to an inquiry from Just the News about the sermons, and the Islamic Center of Detroit did not respond to its request for comment from the Middle East Forum.

The Middle East Forum said in an Oct. 29 release that a speaker at the center told worshipers in January 2025 they were “living here in America, in the house of Shaitan [Satan],” while also noting that the center received $45 million in public money, mostly federal school-meal reimbursement. 

The forum’s report on nonprofit electioneering, by researcher Mahyar Entezari, documented three other pre-primary appearances by El-Sayed at Islamic institutions. 

He appeared at the June 6 opening of the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, where he was introduced as a Senate candidate; at a late-June service at the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, where Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi welcomed him and urged worshipers to vote for him; and at an Aug. 3 service at the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in Dearborn. 

Imam Husham Al-Husainy preached, “If you want to give victory to God, give victory to El-Sayed,” after calling for the defeat of “the Zionist lowlives.” At the appearance, El-Sayed made a distinction between American Jews and AIPAC and the state of Israel, saying the two groups didn’t share the same level of responsibility for policies.   

El-Sayed’s appearance at the Islamic Society of North America’s convention in Detroit was the only such visit that fell clearly within the general election campaign. He spoke Sept. 5 and received a standing ovation, Fox News reported. The forum’s report said his campaign ran an exhibitor booth there and that the society’s chief executive, Azhar Azeez, said afterward the group endorses no candidate but that Muslims know “exactly what decision they should take” (timestamp 56:12).

“Abdul is not affiliated with and does not endorse any other participant of the conference,” an El-Sayed campaign spokeswoman said of the September convention of the Islamic Society of North America, in comments to Fox News.

Not every Muslim cleric in Michigan is backing El-Sayed in his race against Republican Mike Rogers. 

Usama Abdulghani of Light of Guidance in Dearborn, a mosque where El-Sayed is not reported to have appeared, warned worshipers Sept. 11 and Sept. 25 against supporting him, calling abortion “baby killing” and accusing El-Sayed of pushing a “[Sodom and Gomorrah] agenda on crack,” in reference to his support for LGBTQ causes, the Middle East Forum reported Oct. 13. 

Abdulghani, who was trained in Iran and supports the regime there, said he was laying out “principles,” not a final verdict, and that a time might come for Muslims to vote “as a bloc,” but “not now.”

El-Sayed has rejected suggestions of having extremist ties. At an Oct. 17 town hall in Caro, Michigan, he answered, “Sure, yeah, absolutely” when asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, as Zeale News reported Oct. 20. 

A YouGov/Michigan State University poll conducted Oct. 2-19 and released on Oct. 26 found El-Sayed leading Mike Rogers 48% to 45.5% among likely voters, a difference within the 4.4-point margin of error. The same poll also found El-Sayed underperforming with Catholics when compared with fellow Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who is running for governor against Republican John James.