Abdul El-Sayed To Headline Islamic Event Alongside Pakistani Cleric Who Forced His 13-Year-Old Niece Into Marriage, Was Denounced for ‘Pedophilic Rhetoric’
Tariq Masood urged his congregants to marry off their own female children and invoked Sharia law on the question of women’s education
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will spend Labor Day weekend alongside a Jew-hating Pakistani cleric who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and admitted to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage.
El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) 63rd annual convention, held in Detroit from Sept. 4-7. El-Sayed, whose father-in-law is a founding member of the ISNA—which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood—will speak Sept. 5 on the oddly titled panel, “Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America,” according to an itinerary.
The convention features a rogues’ gallery of notorious Muslim figures who’ve engaged in Holocaust denial and the persecution of Christians and have also been unindicted co-conspirators in terror plots, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But one speaker stands out for his particularly noxious record: Tariq Masood, an influential Pakistani cleric who is also on the ISNA roster.
Masood, a “mufti” qualified to issue religious laws, is scheduled to speak on a panel about “avoiding mental illness in youth,” including how parents “can prevent or minimize the impact of any trauma leading to a mental illness.”
The topic is an unusual fit for Masood, given his past advocacy of child marriage.
According to multiple Pakistani media reports, Masood in 2021 admitted in a sermon that he forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage, and advised his followers to do the same with their young female relatives. Masood also said it was a husband’s decision whether or not his wife can go to college or must remain a housewife, citing Sharia, or Islamic religious law. In 2024, Canadian activists urged the government to block Masood’s visa to the country over his “pedophilic rhetoric.”
Masood has also promoted inflammatory views about Jews.
In a 2024 sermon titled “The Final Humiliation of the Jews,” Masood said, according to translations of the event, that Jews’ “cunning minds” had worked to bring the world under their control.
“The Quran condemns Jews,” Masood said, while adding that “not all Jews are the same.” He nevertheless claimed that the amount of “evil and turmoil” among Jews was unmatched by any other community in the world.
Masood will moderate his panel with Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, the president of ISNA. Ahmad will also take part in El-Sayed’s panel, according to the itinerary.
The pairing is notable given El-Sayed’s own rhetoric on political opponents. El-Sayed has attacked President Trump and Republicans as “pedophile protectors” for allegedly withholding files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In March, El-Sayed told aides in a campaign strategy call that if asked about the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, he would change the topic to the “pedophile president” in order to avoid upsetting Muslim voters, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed’s appearance at the convention is likely to intensify questions about whether he intends to moderate his politics ahead of the November general election. Some moderate and Jewish Democrats have already said they will not support him because of his ties to anti-Israel organizations and activists, including Hasan Piker, who has said that “America deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed’s fellow panelist is Piker’s uncle, Cenk Uygur.
Masood is hardly the only controversial figure on the convention roster.
Former Pakistani president Arif Alvi will also speak at the convention. Alvi stoked outcry in 2018 after he declined to amend Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws after two Christian brothers were sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Other speakers include Siraj Wahhaj, a New York-based imam who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Texas-based imam Yasir Qadhi, who will appear on several panels over the weekend, has called the Holocaust a “hoax” and said that Adolf Hitler “never intended to mass-destroy the Jews.” Hussam Ayloush, an official with the pro-Hamas Council on American-Islamic Relations, will speak on a panel about civic participation. After Oct. 7, Ayloush said that “Israel should be attacked,” and that if “you want to pick up arms and defend your people and your land, that is a legitimate right.”
El-Sayed’s family ties to ISNA have also sparked concern. El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, has served on ISNA’s founding committee since 2007, the Free Beacon reported. Jukaku has contributed $300,000 to a PAC supporting El-Sayed.
ISNA was founded as an American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism funding case in 2008.
The convention also highlights El-Sayed’s resurfaced comments in support of Sharia law. The Free Beacon reported that El-Sayed expressed an “obligation” to comply with Sharia law, citing a mortgage he took out at University Bank, a bank that does not charge interest in compliance with Sharia.
The bank, now known as University Islamic Financial, is a sponsor of the ISNA event. So is Amana Funds, a Sharia-compliant mutual fund company with which El-Sayed owns between $150,000 and $425,000.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.