Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the Michigan Senate, has encountered questions regarding his engagement with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention. The event gained attention after ISNA removed a Pakistani cleric, Mufti Tariq Masood, due to past controversial remarks about Hitler, Jews, and jihad.
Masood was initially scheduled to speak at ISNA’s annual event in Detroit with El-Sayed. The decision to remove him followed scrutiny of his past comments, which included praise for Hitler’s persecution of Jews and a defense of child marriage. Dr. Andrew Bostom, who reviewed Masood’s sermons, noted that Masood suggested the Quran predicted Hitler’s actions 1,400 years ago.
Masood is a racist, Jew-hate-mongering, anti-American, anti-British, conspiracy-promoting, murder- and terror-inciter. Masood even praises Hitler’s genocide of Jews as doing the right thing, similar to the Quran’s instructions,wrote ZOA National President Morton Klein in a letter concerning Masood’s visa status.
Despite Masood not speaking at the convention, questions remained about the participating speakers and El-Sayed’s decision to attend. During the event, El-Sayed participated in a panel alongside Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks, and cleric Zaid Shakir. The panel was focused on promoting ‘God Awareness’ in America.
Uygur has previously expressed skepticism about the official 9/11 narrative. Shakir once described himself as ‘extremely anti-American’ and advocated for tactics ranging from noncooperation to guerrilla warfare to influence policies. The ISNA conference occurred days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, making the participation of Uygur, Shakir, and El-Sayed particularly notable.
El-Sayed faced earlier criticism over tweets from 2021, where he mourned 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 while also questioning the devastation caused by the U.S. overseas.
At the ISNA event, El-Sayed reportedly addressed issues of anti-Muslim sentiment. He stated, ‘We found ourselves in a moment now where, as people point to us, Muslim Americans, they want to tell us that we don’t belong.’
El-Sayed had previously been criticized for his association with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, Uygur’s nephew, who infamously commented that ‘America deserved 9/11.’ Although Piker later apologized, El-Sayed has yet to fully disavow him.