El-Sayed Claims He will Disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, But Accuses Voter o

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall in Caro, Michigan, on Saturday, but spent most of a heated exchange challenging the voter who asked him to do so.

"Abdul, will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?" a man shouted from the crowd as El-Sayed finished speaking, according to CNN.

"Yes," El-Sayed replied, before immediately pressing the man on why he was asking. When the voter said he had not yet heard El-Sayed disavow the group, El-Sayed asked whether the man himself had disavowed it.

"You assume … that because I am Muslim, that somehow I would have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution," El-Sayed said, adding that the Constitution is his guiding light. The voter walked out as the crowd cheered.

A video of the exchange was posted by the Democrats for Mike Rogers account, which said El-Sayed spent the time "refusing to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, all while insulting a Michigan voter." The group's affiliated super PAC has spent roughly $4.4 million backing Republican nominee Mike Rogers or opposing El-Sayed.

The questions follow the resurfacing of old social media posts by El-Sayed's half-sister, University of Chicago professor Eman Abdelhadi. In a 2012 post, she wrote about a conversation with their mother about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood while in college in the early 1970s. Rogers and President Donald Trump have both raised possible connections to the group in recent days.

El-Sayed has denied that he or his family has any ties to the organization, telling reporters on Thursday that it was "an insane thing to assume." He has said the questions are rooted in bigotry, and that it is wrong to suggest his faith calls his allegiance to the Constitution into question.

Abdelhadi has faced separate scrutiny this week over a resurfaced video in which she described a scene from her 2022 novel celebrating a "Final Intifada" against Israel, as well as earlier comments related to the October 7 massacre. El-Sayed's campaign has said he loves his sister but disagrees with her on a number of political positions and on her rhetoric.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is the movement from which Hamas emerged. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have banned it as a terrorist organization.

El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim U.S. senator if elected, faces Rogers on November 3 in a race seen as critical to control of the Senate.