Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed sought votes at at least five Islamic centers where speakers have delivered anti-American remarks and calls for violence against Jews. Among the statements documented were a description of America as “the house of Satan” and a prediction of “the final annihilation of Jews.” His campaign appearances included requests for ballot signatures, donations and volunteers.
In March 2026, El-Sayed addressed a crowded Ramadan prayer gathering at the Islamic Center of Detroit while seeking to qualify for Michigan’s Democratic primary. A mosque leader welcomed him to the pulpit as “our beloved brother Dr. Abdulrahman.” El-Sayed directed the men gathered for the service to campaign staff stationed in the back of the room.
“I have to get on the ballot to be able to get your vote, inshallah. So, my team is here in the back … we need your signature to get on the ballot,” El-Sayed told attendees. The center posted footage of the appearance on its YouTube channel. Before finishing his appeal for signatures, he urged the congregation, “Please don’t leave here without doing that.”
As the New York Post reported, the same service included a closing prayer in Arabic seeking vengeance against Zionists. A leader said, “The Zionists have spread corruption in the land. Your forbearance has deceived them, so show them your power … They killed our brothers and sisters, so take the worst revenge upon them.” The prayer continued, “Raise no banner for them in the lands of the Muslims … foil their plans in every time and place.”
At an earlier service in January 2025, Islamic scholar Dr. Zulfiqar Shah described Muslims as “living here in America, in the house of Satan.” Shah also claimed that the U.S. Constitution was based on Islam. “I’m expecting some rough time during the next four years, so it is important for us to be able and ready to say no, this is not a Christian country, this was not built by the Judeo-Christian tradition,” he said.
El-Sayed also appeared at the Islamic Organization of North America in Warren in September, where his campaign distributed flyers and operated a booth seeking donations and volunteers. A speaker there in 2013 predicted “the final annihilation of Jews.” The speaker said, “They will be exterminated. … And actually, this greater Israel would become their greater graveyard. And it has been established to drag all the Israelis from all the corners of the world to their graveyard. And here they will perish.”
Watch El-Sayed speak at the Islamic Center of Detroit here:
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During the week preceding the Post’s October 31st report, El-Sayed campaigned at the American Moslem Society in Dearborn, where leaders have prayed to “let us live upon jihad and cause us to die upon martyrdom.” He appealed to attendees’ faith and criticized American support for Israel. “We deserve to know that our money isn’t being wasted to make war, to do genocide, to backstop apartheid,” he said.
In June, El-Sayed spoke at two Dearborn Heights institutions: the Islamic Institute of America and the Islamic House of Wisdom. The former hosted a prayer asking Allah to “show vengeance and wrath against the criminal Zionists,” while the latter hosted a call for “disbelievers to be neutralized if not destroyed.” Separately, worshippers at the Muslim Educational Community Center of America in Canton and the American Muslim Diversity Association in Sterling Heights were urged to support his Senate bid. Saleh Qazwini, an imam at the Canton center, said, “It’s mandatory to go and to elect brother Abdul El-Sayed because at least we know he’s a Muslim.” He added, “We have to all come out in numbers.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.