Abdul El-Sayed, who said in 2009 that following Sharia was an “obligation” and whose campaign confirmed in August that he still follows it in his personal life, won Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat on Nov. 3, becoming the first Muslim elected to the Senate. His win followed a CAIR turnout drive and calls from clerics describing voting as a “religious duty” for the “Ummah.” Commentator Wajahat Ali warned that “the fire will rise” if El-Sayed lost, a warning Muslim reformers condemned as Islamist intimidation.
In his victory speech in Detroit early on Nov. 4, El-Sayed introduced himself by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, and delivered part of his speech in Arabic. He told supporters, “Up until right about now, you might have noticed I always say ‘inshallah,’ or ‘God willing,’ whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned. But today, tonight, we can turn that inshallah into alhamdulillah!” Alhamdulillah means “praise be to God.”
He also addressed Vice President JD Vance using the Arabic term “habibi,” telling him, “JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January.”
Yasir Qadhi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), which provides Islamic legal guidance to Muslims in the United States and Canada, and resident scholar at the East Plano Islamic Center in Texas, urged Muslims to vote in an Oct. 29 post on X. He said, “it is our ethnic duty, it is our civic duty, it is our religious duty to go and support those candidates and choose those that represent the best of our interests.”
He concluded, “And so, today, tomorrow, pray Jumma and go to vote for the Ummah.” Jumma is the Friday congregational prayer; the Ummah is the worldwide Muslim community.
CAIR, which describes itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, announced its final turnout push on Oct. 29, projecting 3.13 million advertising impressions and up to 750,000 text messages to Muslim voters in 10 states, including Michigan and Texas. By Nov. 1, CAIR estimated that 88,148 people on its 250,099-person outreach list, or 35.2%, had voted early or by mail.
