The half-sister of leftist Muslim U.
S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) has reportedly acknowledged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, directly contradicting his public denials.
During an appearance on NBCs Meet the Press, El-Sayed repeatedly rejected any suggestion that he or his relatives are connected to the Islamist movement that spawned Hamas, even as the Washington Free Beacon highlighted evidence to the contrary. According to Breitbart, his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, has previously described her family as long affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in a series of social media posts.
El-Sayed also declined to clearly deny receiving money from terrorist-linked entities during a Thursday debate with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former congressman and House Intelligence Committee chairman. Breitbart News has further reported that El-Sayeds campaign confirmed in August that he continues to adhere to Sharia law in his personal life, raising additional questions about his ideological commitments.
The Beacons report noted that, Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, wrote openly about her familys ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in social media posts in 2012 and 2013, the Washington Free Beacon found. In one post dated June 24, 2012, just days after Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected president of Egypt, Abdelhadi wrote, My family has long been MB, and followed up on July 3, 2013, with, I have had family jailed for being a part of it, and, Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in Egypt. Lie low, stay safe she said.
Abdelhadis official profile at the University of Chicago lists her academic interests as religion, gender, identity, and demography, underscoring her public engagement with questions of faith and social structures. Her comments, however, now place her brothers denials under intense scrutiny, particularly in light of the Muslim Brotherhoods documented role in fostering extremist violence.
The Beacon further reported that, El-Sayeds familial ties to the Muslim Brotherhood run through his mother, Elkomy, who at one point worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which was sanctioned for funding al-Qaeda. That allegation, if accurate, would mean El-Sayeds immediate family has been directly connected to an organization penalized by the U.S. government for supporting terrorism.
The seriousness of such ties has only grown since President Donald Trumps administration took decisive action against elements of the Muslim Brotherhood network. In November, an executive order from Trump designated certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, reflecting a national security posture that treats the group as a transnational threat rather than a benign religious movement.
The order explained, The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond. Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.
It continued, For example, in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel. A senior leader of the Egyptian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, on October 7, 2023, called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests, and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas. Such activities threaten the security of American civilians in the Levant and other parts of the Middle East, as well as the safety and stability of our regional partners.
Rogers, who has made national security a central theme of his campaign, seized on the controversy in a social media post Sunday. This morning, Abdul El-Sayed was asked about his familys ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. And he denied it an outright lie. The truth is, Abdul and his family have surrounded themselves with some of the most heinous organizations and anti-American actors in history. He is too extreme to get anywhere near the U.S. Senate, he wrote.
Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, known for exposing corruption and foreign influence in American politics, has likewise warned about the Brotherhoods long-term strategy in the West. He cautioned in September that the organization is using civilizational jihad to infiltrate and reshape Western societies from within, rather than relying solely on overt violence.
Theyve been doing it in Europe, and theyve been doing it in the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood is alive and active in America today electing politicians, he stated, a warning that resonates strongly in the context of El-Sayeds candidacy and the broader question of Islamist influence in American public life.
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