WASHINGTON — Michigan Senate hopeful Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is heading to an Islamic convention over the weekend that has faced criticism for inviting multiple Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack conspiracy theorists.
On Saturday, he’s slated to join a panel at the Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention in Detroit and be joined by “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur and Muslim cleric Zaid Shakir, both of whom have cast doubts on what really happened on 9/11, the Washington Free Beacon first reported.
Both men have raised questions about the government’s version of what took place during the tragic attacks that killed some 3,000 people.
The convention is taking place some six days before the 25th anniversary of the attack.
“I no longer believe [the] official 9/11 story. Two paper passports did not burn and were found on the rubble but it was so hot WTC7 burned down across the street. Nonsense,” Uygur wrote in a shocking X post back in February.
“It’s time to look for who gained from 9/11. Our government doesn’t work for us. They’ve been lying [the] whole time.”
Uygur is the uncle of notorious streamer Hasan Piker, though he has pushed back against some of the Twitch star’s outlandish claims, including his assertion in 2019 that America “deserved” the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The “Young Turks” host has long trafficked in lefty populist politics, but has also made overtures to conservative figures. He got Piker to begrudgingly somewhat concede it was an “inappropriate” comment about the 9/11 attacks.
El-Sayed has stumped with Piker repeatedly on the campaign trail. While he has denounced some of Piker’s controversial claims, including that America “deserved” 9/11, El-Sayed refused to disavow him.
In fact, he stumped with Piker during the final day of his Democratic primary.
Meanwhile, Shakir has argued that there are “glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies” with the official account of what happened in the 9/11 attacks.
He complained in an article that “9/11 has been used by both the government and a significant segment of the Christian Right in this country, along with their allies, to launch a war on Islam.”
One year before the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Shakir penned a missive arguing that Muslims should embrace actions such as “noncooperation tactics to guerrilla war” and pointed to the 1979 Iranian Revolution as well as the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A copy of that missive was found in the apartment of one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing suspects.
Muslim Public Affairs Council founder Salam al-Marayati, who is set to address the convention, faced controversy around the time the 9/11 attacks took place for suggesting that Israel should be blamed for them..
Al-Marayati apologized for the remarks and explained it was a “hypothetical rejoinder” when someone suggested that Muslims were behind 9/11. His comments about Israel came at a time when the attackers’ identities weren’t known. Al-Marayati has been outspoken about combating extremism.
Another featured speaker is Siraj Wahhaj, a controversial imam who once said that “Islam is better than democracy.”
The Brooklyn imam and pal of Mayor Zohran Mamdani also sparked controversy for calling on people to scare members of the LGBTQ community into becoming straight and Muslim.
“This is a disease of this society,” Wahhaj contended in a 2017 sermon, urging his followers to “defend against these homosexuals.”
Organizers had also planned to invite Pakistani cleric Tariq Masood to speak at the convention, but that was scrapped after it was revealed he allegedly forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage, the Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed faced controversy this week over resurfaced past tweets he made about 9/11.
“Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my faith,” El-Sayed wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
“Tomorrow, I’ll mourn ~1M lives, millions of injuries, & infrastructural devastation in 3 countries, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my country,” he added, per a copy of the tweet saved by the Wayback Machine.
The aspiring senator’s campaign told The Post at the time that, “Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11 attacks.”
If he wins his race in November, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate in US history. During his campaign, he has occasionally argued that his name and religion have created barriers for him with voters. He also claimed that former President Barack Obama’s win gave him faith that he can break through.
The Post contacted El-Sayed’s campaign for comment on the Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention.
