Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed addressed about 1,000 attendees at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in Detroit over the weekend, sharing a panel with two speakers who have publicly questioned the official account of the September 11 attacks. The gathering fell six days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and El-Sayed stayed silent during the Saturday panel on a resurfaced 2021 tweet of his own that had drawn criticism.
The panel included Cenk Uygur, founder of The Young Turks, and Muslim cleric Zaid Shakir, both of whom have faced scrutiny for their statements on 9/11, according to the New York Post. The 63rd annual ISNA convention ran from September 4 through September 7 at Huntington Place in Detroit, marking the organization's first gathering in the city since 2014, according to WDET. Uygur said in February that he no longer believes the official 9/11 story, writing that two paper passports were reportedly found on the rubble despite the heat that burned down WTC7 — a claim that has been widely disputed by mainstream accounts, according to media researcher Renée DiResta.
A Panel Under Scrutiny
Shakir, for his part, argued that the official account of the attacks has glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies, and complained that 9/11 was used to launch a war on Islam, per the seed report. Shakir is a U.S. Air Force veteran who co-founded Zaytuna College in Berkeley — the nation's first accredited Muslim liberal arts college — after earning a political science degree at Rutgers and studying Islamic studies in Syria and Egypt, according to a 2007 PBS profile.
Uygur also used the panel to criticize U.S. support for Israel, saying it is unbearable to him as an American, and claimed that Palestinians are not occupying Israelis — that Israelis are occupying Palestinians. He mocked mainstream media coverage describing the October 7 attacks as the worst event since the Holocaust and warned that opponents would have to come through him first. The remarks echo controversy from earlier this year, when British authorities revoked travel authorization for Uygur and his streamer nephew Hasan Piker ahead of scheduled London appearances, stating their presence was not conducive to the public good, according to the Times of Israel.
El-Sayed's Own Tweet Resurfaces
El-Sayed has faced separate criticism over a since-deleted tweet from September 11, 2021, in which he said he mourned the lives lost on 9/11 while also criticizing America. He remained silent on that resurfaced tweet during Saturday's panel, instead focusing his remarks on what he described as anti-Muslim hate across the United States. Addressing the crowd, El-Sayed said Muslim Americans are told the country is not theirs because of their names or how they pray, and that they are told they do not belong.
He also praised Michigan for not showing him similar bias, and said Michiganders care about what people pray for and hope for. El-Sayed, who is campaigning around Michigan, plans to continue traveling the state ahead of the November 3 general election.
A Battleground Race Heading Into November
El-Sayed won the August 4 Democratic primary for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, defeating Representative Haley Stevens to advance to the general election against Republican nominee Mike Rogers, according to Ballotpedia. The seat opened after Democratic Senator Gary Peters announced his retirement, and Peters — who had initially endorsed Stevens in the primary — has since committed to backing El-Sayed for the general election, framing the race as a must-win battleground for control of the chamber. A late-August EPIC-MRA poll showed El-Sayed leading Rogers 47% to 43% among likely voters, with 10% undecided, according to Forbes.
Before entering politics, El-Sayed served as executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017 and later led Wayne County's Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services from 2023 to 2025, where he oversaw a program that erased up to $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 residents, according to the American Public Health Association. That record has featured heavily in his campaign, though it has also drawn scrutiny: Hoodline previously reported that the largest individual donor to a super PAC supporting him runs a medical-billing firm. He also faced criticism this campaign season after making 100 YouTube videos on topics including gun regulation private ahead of the primary.
