Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, was a leader of a protest in 2007 against three speakers who identified as former terrorists and discussed their conversions to Christianity. The event, detailed by The Michigan Daily, featured Walid Shoebat, Zachariah Annani, and Kamal Saleem, who had previously been involved with groups such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed, then the vice president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), cheered a student walkout during the event. "We've done something good today, and we need to keep that going in the future," El-Sayed was quoted as saying.
A spokesperson for El-Sayed, Cole Wozniak, stated that the candidate "unequivocally denounced terrorism." Wozniak added that El-Sayed "protested against speakers who have been widely condemned by experts, including in national security, for spreading misinformation and fabricating their backstories." The spokesperson also criticized El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, for engaging in political attacks.
The speakers themselves have faced scrutiny. The New York Times reported in 2008 that organizations questioned their backgrounds and suggested they should have faced arrest or deportation due to alleged ties to terrorist groups. The organizers of the 2007 event stated its purpose was to educate about the dangers of Muslim extremism, while the protesters, including El-Sayed, argued that the event promoted generalizations about an entire group of people.
The MSA, the organization El-Sayed was part of, has faced allegations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The White House previously requested that the State and Treasury departments assess whether certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. The Muslim Brotherhood established a presence in the U.S. by the early 1960s, primarily through student unions and organizations like the MSA, according to testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In late 2025, the Trump administration ordered the review of certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters for potential designation as foreign terrorist organizations due to their alleged connections to Hamas and the October 7th attack on Israel.