The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist movement that has influence9d political Islam across the Middle East and beyond. Its ideology and historical connections to various Islamist organizations have drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and national security officials. Critics of Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan politician, have pointed to his past statements about the movement, his family’s reported connections to it, and his father-in-law’s affiliations with prominent Muslim American organizations.
Genocidal Hamas = the Arab “Palestine” = Muslim Brotherhood
Hamas is inherently linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, sharing a foundational ideology aimed at the destruction of Western values and the establishment of an Islamic state.
- Foundational Roots: Hamas was explicitly established in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the violent, militant arm of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood. Conservative policy institutes emphasize that Hamas’s original 1988 charter openly declared the group to be a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.
- Shared Islamist Ideology: Both entities operate under a radical Islamist framework that rejects Western democratic principles, capitalism, and modern secular governance, viewing global jihad as a necessity to implement strict Islamic law.
- The 2017 Document: While Hamas issued a revised policy document in 2017 attempting to downplay its formal organizational ties to the broader Muslim Brotherhood, conservative security analysts widely dismiss this move as a deceptive public relations tactic. They argue that the strategic alignment, ideological goals, and financial networks between the two groups remain functionally unchanged
El-Sayed’s Past Statements on the Muslim Brotherhood
In an essay published by HuffPost in January 2011, El-Sayed argued that the Muslim Brotherhood’s potential rise to power following the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak might not be as troubling as some critics feared.
He contended that Egypt’s military would not support the group’s bid for power unless “strong liberal democratic structures were in place.” He also rejected comparisons suggesting that a Muslim Brotherhood-led government in Egypt would resemble Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
Following the rise to power of Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Sayed signed a statement in 2012 urging Morsi “to purge the media and police as quickly as possible.”
“We affirm, as Egyptian Americans, that we strongly reject those voices that are courting America and Europe to take a position against the Egyptian regime,” the statement’s signatories declared.
These statements prove El-Sayed underestimated the risks posed by the Muslim Brotherhood’s political agenda and its approach to democratic institutions.
Family Connections to the Muslim Brotherhood
Questions have also been raised about El-Sayed’s family history. His half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, discussed the family’s historical ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, commonly abbreviated as “MB.” She also indicated that some relatives had been imprisoned in Egypt because of their activism in the organization.
In a 2012 social media post, Abdelhadi described having an “amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college.”
These accounts have added another dimension to scrutiny of El-Sayed’s background.
His Father-in-Law and Connections to Muslim American Organizations
Further questions have centered on El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, and his reported leadership roles in prominent Muslim American organizations.
According to reporting by the Washington Free Beacon and the Washington Examiner, Jukaku served as president of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) from 2005 to 2010 and served on the founding committee of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
Both CAIR and ISNA were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case. In 2008, five Holy Land Foundation leaders were convicted of providing material support to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Prosecutors presented evidence concerning what they described as a Muslim Brotherhood-linked network in the United States.
The Washington Free Beacon also reported that Jukaku contributed $200,000 to a super PAC supporting El-Sayed’s Senate campaign. That reported contribution has raised questions among critics about the political networks and financial support surrounding El-Sayed’s campaign.
Why These Connections Matter
Taken together, El-Sayed’s past statements about the Muslim Brotherhood, his family’s reported history with the movement, and his father-in-law’s organizational and political connections provide context for examining his views on political Islam, his loyalties and the networks surrounding his political career.
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