If a candidate wanted to test out his groovy 18/36 favorability numbers two months before an election in a state Donald Trump won two years ago, where would he choose to make his next appearance? Especially as the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack by Islamists approached? Perhaps a politician would choose a Tunnels to Towers fundraiser, or maybe at a benefit for the families of those killed by craven al-Qaeda terrorists. Or if nothing else, stick to the campaign trail and focus on connecting with voters in the center.
How about ... a conference held by an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal prosecution for laundering money to Islamist terrorists? This slipped under the radar last week, but Abdul El-Sayed has chosen to attend the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) as part of his pre-9/11 anniversary campaign schedule. The Detroit Free Press never mentioned ISNA's connection to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case or the Muslim Brotherhood in its coverage, and waited until the sixth paragraph to mention El-Sayed's participation in the conference as a panelist on "God Awareness."
However, they did manage to hint at "Islamophobia" from the start:
One of the oldest and largest annual Muslim gatherings in the U.S. is coming to downtown Detroit for the first time in a dozen years, with more than 20,000 expected to attend the convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) over Labor Day weekend at Huntington Place.
The convention, which will feature several Muslim speakers from metro Detroit, comes at a time of hope for the community, with more Muslim candidates running for political office, but also of anxiety amid an increase in hateful targeting of Muslim communities, as seen in recent protests in Dearborn.
The Free Press also obfuscates ISNA's origin story:
ISNA has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, founded largely by Muslim immigrants from Pakistan and India, but the speakers at the convention are from all backgrounds and ethnicities. ISNA was formally founded in the early 1980s, but has its roots in a Muslim student group formed in Illinois in 1963; the Detroit convention will be the 63rd annual gathering of the group.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard a much different take on ISNA's origins. According to testimony provided a month ago from a George Washington University expert on extremism and former FBI agent, ISNA is a key part of the Muslim Brotherhood's support for radical Islamist terrorism and infiltration in Western countries:
The Muslim Brotherhood’s presence in the United States began in the 1960s, and quickly evolved into a sophisticated structure which will be discussed more fully herein. The United States Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee served as the original Hamas infrastructure in the United States, initially consisting of the HLF (the fundraising arm), the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP, the propaganda arm), and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR, the think tank). At the trial, still today the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in American history, the IAP and UASR were identified as unindicted co-conspirators/joint venturers as was the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).2 Further, many key unindicted individuals and entities in the U.S. were also identified at the trial in witness testimony, search-warrant derived documents, and FBI wire-taps. It is important to note that the HLF and the five officers were convicted in that trial by a jury, a conviction that the defendants appealed on numerous grounds. The convictions were affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals3 and certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court. 4 Allies of this network falsely labeled the HLF defendants as political prisoners, implying they were wrongly imprisoned merely for their beliefs and without acknowledging they were afforded due process, a fair trial with a jury whom their attorneys helped select, a substantial appellate court record and affirmation of the guilty verdicts. ...
An Arabic document, drafted by senior U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Akram (also known as Mohamed Akram Adlouni, hereinafter Mohamed Akram) and entitled “Preliminary Vision for Preparing Future Leadership,” was seized in the abovementioned Elbarasse Search and introduced as evidence in the HLF trial. The document identified key U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leaders as of 1988. It contained a chart (hereinafter The 1988 Chart) of the leadership and their roles.18 It also contained the names of various front organizations including but not limited to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), and the Muslim Students Association (MSA).
This testimony didn't get a lot of attention at the time. It apparently didn't get any attention at the Detroit Free Press, despite the fact that ISNA was and remains an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution. (The same is true about CAIR, despite its efforts to reverse that legal finding.)
That brings us to the DFP's mention of El-Sayed in paragraph six, along with another nugget shortly thereafter:
Azeez estimates that about 22,000 to 25,000 are expected to attend the convention during the three days; it's open to the public, who can register at isna.net. Almost 200 volunteers from Michigan have been working tirelessly in recent months to help organize the convention. Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, an active Muslim leader on the board of the Michigan Muslim Community Council, is the chair of the convention's steering committee. One of the panels, titled "Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America," will include Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. They and other panelists will talk about taqwa, an Islamic term that means 'God awareness,' and how it relates to the challenges facing society. ...
ISNA, which is headquartered in Indiana and often holds its convention in Chicago, has close ties to Michigan. El-Sayed's father-in-law, Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, is a longtime leader with ISNA, part of its Founders Committee.
Oddly enough, the DFP does not mention Tayeb's connection to CAIR as well, nor do they bother to explain the ties both groups have to the Muslim Brotherhood. The DFP also fails to report the avalanche of money Tayeb has provided to his son-in-law through a super-PAC that keeps the source of those funds secret:
Jukaku is also a top donor to a super PAC supporting El-Sayed's candidacy, the Fighting for Michigan PAC. He has given the PAC $200,000, nearly half of the $478,125.68 it has raised as of March 31.
"It’s been obvious since the 1970s that the Muslim Students Associations and ISNA … have very strong ties to the extreme fringes of the Democratic Party," said Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who led the prosecution of the Blind Sheikh in the Southern District of New York. ISNA, founded in 1982, is an outgrowth of the Muslim Students Association, which has chapters on colleges and university campuses across the country.
As his father-in-law pours money into his broader campaign effort, El-Sayed is campaigning on pushing "money out of politics," a slogan featured on yard signs supporting his campaign. He has singled out spending from pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which he accused of working to "buy off government" to "make sure that our money is sent abroad to kill other people." Simultaneously, the Fighting for Michigan PAC—armed with generous contributions from Jukaku—is spending big to help El-Sayed secure the Democratic nomination over his primary opponent, congresswoman Haley Stevens.
Has the Detroit Free Press ever bothered to report on any of this? Or are they too worried about being called Islamophobic to report honestly on political candidates?
El-Sayed's choice to come off the campaign trail to become a panelist for a Muslim Brotherhood event is certainly a choice. Timing it in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror massacres is another choice, both for El-Sayed and ISNA, and a rather telling choice at that. But perhaps we should not be surprised, especially if we apply the principle that usually explains everything in politics: Follow the money.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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