Published : 11 Aug 2026, 04:04 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:31 AM
Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim candidate who won the Democratic primary for a US Senate seat in Michigan, has faced a wave of anti-Muslim attacks on X, according to an investigation by Al Jazeera.
The campaign focused heavily on El-Sayed's use of “insha’Allah”, meaning “God willing”, during his election night speech, the Qatari broadcaster reports.
El-Sayed had used the phrase while saying he hoped his victory would show that money alone does not decide US elections. Far-right accounts stripped the word from that context and portrayed it as evidence of a supposed religious and political takeover.
Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson posted a clip that drew more than 193,000 views, while the account ALX shared a similar post that received more than 80,000 views.
Far-right figure Laura Loomer called the clip “disgusting”.
Al Jazeera mapped 1,966 X accounts and more than 2,500 connections during the campaign's first 24 hours.
It recorded 1,847 reposts, 1,157 quotes and 1,536 mentions, finding that the campaign relied heavily on resharing content.
Accounts including End Wokeness also circulated an out-of-context clip of El-Sayed saying, “When they go low, we don’t go high. We take them to the mud and choke them out.”
The remark came from an August 2025 event where El-Sayed was criticising political attacks by President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters, according to Al Jazeera.
The campaign soon expanded into baseless claims that “Sharia is coming to America” and that Michigan was being “invaded”.
Hamtramck, where about 25 percent of its 28,000 residents are Arab Muslims, was described as an “occupied city” facing a demographic invasion.
Political, Pro-Israel Overlap
The campaign gained further traction after political figures and pro-Israel organisations joined the debate.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz amplified allegations linking El-Sayed to Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups, while the American Jewish Committee called his candidacy a worrying sign of divisive rhetoric.
Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad called him “dangerous”.
Hananya Naftali, a YouTuber and former digital aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urged Americans to defend “Judeo-Christian values”.
The campaign received a major boost from Trump, who attacked Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates and later called El-Sayed a “hater of Jews” and “hater of Israel”.
Trump also accused him of bringing “filth, crime, death, destruction, embarrassment”, directing his attack at a candidate who will face Republican opponent Mike Rogers in the November midterm election.
El-Sayed Pushes Back
El-Sayed has rejected accusations of antisemitism, saying he is committed to the safety of Jewish Americans.
A Fox News clip of his remarks drew more than 1 million views.
He has instead focused on equality, saying Americans deserve education, healthcare and decent jobs regardless of their origin, skin colour or how they pray.
Democratic leaders including Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin and Senator Elizabeth Warren have backed El-Sayed and praised his focus on working families and corporate influence in politics.
Liberal commentator Brian Krassenstein predicted that El-Sayed would remain a target of the MAGA movement, with further accusations of being a “terrorist” and “communist” likely in the coming months.
