Abdul El-Sayed has a long history of involvement with a notorious Michigan mosque whose leaders have defended payments to the families of terrorists and offered prayers to Allah to destroy the Jews.
The Michigan Senate Democratic nominee has been affiliated with the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Township—"part of this community," as El-Sayed put it—since at least 2017, according to a Facebook post from the mosque. His father, Mohammed El-Sayed, formally became a member in 2019, according to another Facebook post from the mosque—though a 2006 local news article identified the elder El-Sayed as an "imam" for the center as early as 2006.
"Welcome Dr. Mohamad El-Sayed Family as new Members of Muslim Unity Center," the mosque wrote on a 2019 Facebook post about its "membership drive."
A 2020 annual report from the mosque notes that it partnered with Abdul El-Sayed "for a two-day training on civic engagement, organizing, and storytelling" for Muslim youth looking to get involved in the 2020 elections.
"Being able to be a part of this community has meant a lot to me," El-Sayed said in a promotional video for the mosque in May 2021. El-Sayed also touted his enthusiasm for people with "different perspectives on what it means to be an American."
The mosque has returned the praise, lauding Abdul El-Sayed as "a treasure for our community." El-Sayed held a fundraiser there during his 2018 campaign for governor.
"The objective of MUC is to develop, support and promote an Islamic way of life and to ensure the emergence of an American Muslim identity. MUC affirms the principles of the social order established by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), including the establishment of a thriving and vibrant community free of ethnic, racial, cultural or national divisions. MUC's vision is based on the teachings of the holy book Al-Qur'aan and by the teachings of the Prophet," the mosque grandly states on its website.
While the mosque puts on a public show of tolerance, what comes from the pulpit and from its board leadership paints a starkly different picture.
In March 2020, MUC posted a podcast episode delivered by Mohamed Almasmari, who spent a decade as imam of the mosque and has given $500 to Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign, Federal Election Commission records show.
During the episode, Almasmari condemned President Trump's 2020 peace plan for Israel and Palestinian terrorists, condemning proscriptions on providing funding for the families of dead terrorists.
"The idea of supporting now the families of shuhada [martyrs], those who died in the process of defending their honor. That people want you and I to say that they are terrorists. People tell you two sides. Are you with freedom or are you with Hamas? You have to pick a side. That's a nonsense game," Almasmari thundered.
"People paid the price for that, who died in the path of Allah, glorified and exalted is he, you can no longer support those terrorist families. Even though you're supporting kids and widows."
In a video from June 2026, MUC youth director Ibrahim Abdus-Sabur offered a prayer for the destruction of Jews.
"For some people, it's success that they take the land of another people and they say to themselves, 'we're the chosen people,' and they commit a genocide. That's success for them," Abdus-Sabur said in a video posted to the MUC YouTube page.
"We understand the truth must come full circle and Allah will destroy these people one day."
On December 8, 2023—in the weeks after Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel—Abdus-Sabur told the faithful: "Allah loves the drop of blood that is for his sake," adding that "it is inevitable that sometimes we must protect ourselves or defend ourselves… the blood that is spilled by doing so is extremely beloved to him."
Abdus-Sabur runs the mosque's middle school and teen programs.
In November 2023, MUC hosted "Gaza: A Personal Reflection by Summer Baraka, Unity Center Community Member,"—video of which remains live on their YouTube page.
Summer Baraka, a cofounder of the Wayne State University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, had a long and well-documented history of open Jew hatred before being invited to speak at MUC.
"May Allah curse the Jews, and that's all," she posted on X in 2013. She also posted in support of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, then serving time for attempted murder, calling him "the inspiration that Palestinians need," Algemeiner reported in 2018.
The extremism continues within the MUC's behind-the-scenes leadership.
Tarik Baraka, a board member during the time Abdul El-Sayed's father joined the mosque, has openly defended Hamas on social media, posting to X on July 17, 2014, that "Hamas isn't what the Zionist media makes it out to be."
"U make me want to forget my principles and embrace my anger," he added to the IDF spokesman account the same day.
"Im sick of research and patience give me a weapon and send me to Gaza," he posted in November 2012.
In October 2014, Baraka shared a post on Facebook reading, "Faced with a reality in which Israel is strong and the United States is in its pocket, it is the duty of Palestinians to resist the occupation"
After the Oct. 7 attacks, MUC broke off its interfaith partnership with nearby Temple Beth El.
"Many interfaith partners weren't with us although many were. Maybe this is a moment we can build on," Beth El's rabbi told Detroit Jewish News at the time.
During his time at MUC, Baraka was also their "Chair of Interfaith Service," according to a deleted LinkedIn, screenshots of which now appear on his Canary Mission profile.
Since the beginning of his Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed has faced questions about his support for Islamic extremism. In 2012, he signed a letter calling on the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt to purge the media and police in the country. His mother worked for an Islamic charity later shut down for ties to al Qaeda. Her home was later raided by the FBI. El-Sayed's father also currently serves as a board member for an Islamic nonprofit which was previously busted for funneling cash to Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Mohammed El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Free Beacon. Representatives for both the Muslim Unity Center and Abdul El-Sayed's campaign also did not respond to the request for comment.
