An unearthed video shows Michigan Democrat Senate nominee Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed linking Oklahoma’s effort to ban Sharia law to the forced removal of Native Americans, the destruction of Black Wall Street, and the Oklahoma City bombing during a 2022 speech at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event.
El-Sayed questioned Oklahoma voters’ decision to ban Sharia law during his 2022 speech at the CAIR event.
“When the state of Oklahoma voted in a referendum to amend the constitution to ban Sharia law. What does that mean? I don’t know. And yet the voters banned it anyway,” El-Sayed said.
“What I offer today is just a reflection on the American history that runs through this state,” he continued.
“You all sitting in this room, in this town, we’re sitting in a space, in a time when I don’t have to tell you that the same exact forces that drove Native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago, and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago,” El-Sayed said. “Those forces are alive and well today.”
El-Sayed’s comments come amid criticism of Sharia law from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who denounced it during a recent speech at the Republican convention, declaring that it has “no place in America.”
“Islamism likewise produces murder and oppression, from the forced wearing of hijabs to the stoning of rape victims, from the systematic murder of homosexuals to honor killings and the barbarism of October 7 and 9/11,” Cruz said.
“Hear me now. Sharia law has no place in America. Sharia law is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution, and we need to stand together and stop it now,” he continued.
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El-Sayed’s campaign confirmed in August that he continues to observe Sharia law in his personal life after a 2009 New York Times interview resurfaced in which he described following Islamic religious law as an obligation. “Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,” El-Sayed said at the time. “Not because of fear but because of obligation.” Campaign spokeswoman Roxie Richner subsequently clarified that El-Sayed “believes in the separation of church and state” and “opposes any effort by any religious community to write their faith laws into the laws of our country.”
After El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary in August, Republican nominee Mike Rogers accused him of pledging support to the Muslim Brotherhood and campaigning with individuals who refuse to condemn terrorism. “Abdul isn’t just another liberal. He’s an extremist,” Rogers said, alleging that El-Sayed wants to empty prisons, supports the Muslim Brotherhood, and advocates substantial tax increases.
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Rogers has called on El-Sayed to return contributions from donors he alleged had connections to terrorist organizations, including individuals affiliated with CAIR. His campaign identified nearly $130,000 in donations from more than 41 CAIR staff and board members, as well as at least $300,000 contributed by El-Sayed’s father-in-law to a super PAC supporting his candidacy. Rogers’ campaign also alleged that his father-in-law held a leadership position in an organization linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. The allegations do not, by themselves, establish that the contributions were unlawful or that El-Sayed supports terrorism. “This is not about anyone’s faith,” the Rogers campaign said. “This is about judgment, transparency, and who is financing a candidate for the United States.”
During the Republican convention in September, Rogers criticized El-Sayed’s association with anti-American streamer Hasan Piker and accused his opponent of minimizing terrorism. “You don’t sympathize with terrorists. You don’t sanitize extremism, and you sure don’t ask the people of Michigan to send you to the United States Senate while surrounding yourself with people who despise America,” Rogers said.
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During an appearance on The Progressive Christians Podcast in May, El-Sayed rejected the notion that Muslims who organize politically are seeking to impose their religious beliefs on others. “There’s this verse in the Quran, Lā ikrāha fī d-dīn, which literally means there’s no compulsion on faith,” he said. “Your job is to live out your faith, and to try to do so in a way where you’re offering dignity and opportunity to other people — not to compel them to behave in any sort of way.” Later in the interview, when asked about being called a radical for supporting policies such as Medicare for All, El-Sayed said, “Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, was considered radical in his time too. And there is a radical nature to being willing to stand forthright in a time of corruption.”
El-Sayed has received support from prominent progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). During a rally in Detroit in July, Ocasio-Cortez declared that El-Sayed “represents the politics of the future” and urged voters to elect him to the Senate.
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