The progressive Democrat seeking Michigans open US Senate seat is facing renewed scrutiny after revelations that his mother once worked for an Islamic charity later designated by the federal government for supporting terrorism.
According to The Post Millennial, records show that Abdul El-Sayeds biological mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, was employed by the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 through at least 2004, as documented by The Midwesterner. The Treasury Department formally designated IARA in October 2004, freezing its assets over allegations that the groups global network had funneled money to terrorist organizations.
The charity, also known abroad as the Islamic African Relief Agency, publicly portrayed itself as a humanitarian operation focused on orphans, impoverished families, and civilians trapped in war-torn regions. Federal investigators, however, concluded that behind that charitable faade, elements of the organization were moving substantial sums to some of the worlds most notorious jihadist networks.
Treasury officials alleged that overseas branches of the group had sent funds directly to al-Qaedas leader. Information available to the U.S. shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999, the Treasury Department said at the time.
Authorities further asserted that the organizations international web of affiliates provided support benefiting Hamas and the Taliban, two groups long designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. IARA-USA was later prosecuted for sanctions violations tied to money transfers into Saddam Husseins Iraq, ultimately admitting in court that it had conspired to violate US sanctions by sending nearly $1.4 million into the country.
The plea agreement acknowledges that, due to its designation as a specially designated global terrorist and the subsequent blocking of all its property, IARA has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine, the US Attorneys Office said when announcing the plea. The group agreed to dissolve in 2016, closing the books on what prosecutors described as a compromised charity entangled with extremist causes.
Elkomy publicly defended her work with the organization after the Treasury designation, insisting that her efforts were focused on vulnerable children rather than politics or militancy. Ive been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart theyre not going to get any help, Elkomy said in a 2004 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
El-Sayeds family history is complex, with his parents separating after immigrating to the United States and later remarrying other partners. According to The Midwesterner, during his rise as a progressive figure, El-Sayed has frequently highlighted his father, Mohamed El-Sayed, and his stepmother, Jacqueline El-Sayed, while rarely speaking in public about his birth mother.
Reports indicate that Elkomy eventually returned to the Middle East before moving back to the United States, where she now works as a nurse practitioner in Missouri. Her past employment with a blacklisted charity, however, is likely to raise questions among voters already wary of lax vetting and soft-on-terror policies pushed for years by the left.
El-Sayeds extended family ties deepen those concerns for many conservatives, particularly given the national security priorities emphasized under President Trumps second administration. His father-in-law, Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, has held leadership roles with CAIR-Michigan and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), both of which were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, a landmark 2007 prosecution that secured convictions for channeling millions of dollars to Hamas, and ISNA has also been cited in federal court records as having historical links to the Muslim Brotherhood, underscoring why many on the right argue that candidates with such associations deserve far more rigorous scrutiny before being entrusted with high office.
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