WASHINGTON – Republican Mike Rogers and his allies are accusing Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed of misrepresenting his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, pointing to resurfaced social media posts and other records.
El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Michigan’s open Senate seat, answered “no” when asked on “Meet the Press” over the weekend whether he or his family had any connection to the Islamic movement, which has produced several radical offshoots.
However, resurfaced posts by his half-sister, University of Chicago Professor Eman Abdelhadi, express support for the Muslim Brotherhood and state that their mother was once an active member.
“Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect,” Abdelhadi wrote in a 2012 post on X, as first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
“My family has long been MB, but I’ve always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively,” she wrote in another 2012 post.
Records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon also indicate that El-Sayed served as Abdelhadi’s guardian during her Sharia marriage.
The Muslim Brotherhood advocates Sharia law and has been designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia because of violent offshoots such as Hamas.
The United States has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood itself as a terrorist organization, although Washington has imposed that designation on several of its offshoots.
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Rogers’ allies have aired advertisements portraying El-Sayed as a Muslim extremist. Rogers has been slightly behind in polling in the toss-up race to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
A victory would make El-Sayed the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate. His supporters, meanwhile, accuse Rogers and his allies of using Islamophobic attacks.
“Abdul is a dad and a doctor,” the El-Sayed campaign told The Post. “He has spent his entire career working to keep Michiganders healthy and safe.”
“Independent fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad-faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family,” a campaign spokesperson added. “Mike wants to distract from Trump’s agenda that is terrorizing Michigan families at the pump and at the grocery store.”
El-Sayed’s family is from Egypt, and he was previously recorded appearing to indicate that he holds dual citizenship. The Muslim Brotherhood’s stated objective in Egypt has been described as resisting Western influence and re-Islamifying the country.
His half-sister is not the only person in his family circle cited by critics. El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, who contributed to a super PAC supporting him, has served on the committee of the Islamic Society of North America, an organization the Washington Free Beacon reports has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten El-Komy, previously worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency. The Treasury Department designated the organization a terrorist entity in 2004, alleging that it funneled resources to al Qaeda and Hamas.
El-Komy was never charged with a crime and was not identified as a co-conspirator.
During their debate, Rogers repeatedly needled El-Sayed over his family history, but the former public health official opted to go on offense rather than dwell on the accusations.
“Abdul El-Sayed is clearly falling apart,” a Rogers spokesperson told The Post. “He lied about his connections to designated terrorist organizations on national television, and his attempted clean up isn’t going so well.”
“Michiganders deserve to know the truth, and the more they find out, the less they like him.”
The Michigan Senate race is one of the tightest elections in the country, with El-Sayed notching a 2.7 percentage point edge over Rogers in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polling.
The two men have one more debate slated for Oct. 21. Former President Barack Obama as well as President Trump are expected to swing through the state during the midterm home stretch.
