Messages popped up on my WhatsApp account from New York, Gaza, Pakistan and Australia.
asserted
Messages → pop → York
Friends and colleagues were following Michigan’s Senate race, talking excitedly about Abdul El-Sayed.
asserted
Friends → follow → Sayed
As the results from Wayne County sealed his victory on Tuesday, I felt something I had rarely felt before in American politics: not a muted relief that someone had lost but genuine joy and hope that someone had won.
asserted
someone → seal → politics
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, defeated Republican Mike Rogers.
asserted
Sayed → defeat → Rogers
He will be the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate.
asserted
He → elect → Senate
As a Muslim American from Michigan, this hit home.
asserted
this → hit → home
Like many in Michigan’s Muslim community, I knew of Abdul long before he became a fixture in national headlines, from his 2018 gubernatorial campaign to his Friday sermons in local mosques.
asserted
he → know → mosques
As Ramadan began this year, I attended one of his town halls for Muslim constituents.
asserted
I → begin → constituents
Before a few dozen community members and leaders, Abdul pledged to fight for all Michiganders.
asserted
Abdul → pledge → Michiganders
His sincerity and commitment to that pledge remained evident even as the pressures of the campaign intensified.
asserted
pressures → remain → campaign
I have seen him attend funerals for community members near my home and watched him go from person to person, greeting people with kindness.
asserted
him → see → kindness
Even in the final days of an exhausting campaign, he responded personally to messages from the community, including mine.
asserted
he → respond → mine
We attended the same university, the University of Michigan, where he once helped lead the Muslim Students’ Association.
asserted
he → attend → Association
I later served as a college student body president there.
asserted
I → serve → president
Just days before the election, Muslim alumni (including me) invited him to a football tailgate party with students, parents and graduates.
asserted
alumni → include → students
His former teachers and students have spoken to me with pride about the person they knew.
asserted
they → speak → person
Muslim Americans are often asked to celebrate any politician who occasionally says “salaam” or appears in a mosque before Election Day.
asserted
who → ask → Day
Abdul was not an outsider to our community coming to court us.
asserted
Abdul → come → us
He belonged to it.
asserted
He → belong → it
During the campaign, I welcomed hundreds of local Muslim community members, out-of-state political candidates canvassing for him and members of his staff into my home.
asserted
I → welcome → home
People heard from those closest to him what this race could mean for Muslim Americans.
uncertain
race → hear → Americans
The enthusiasm felt different from the familiar, dispiriting bargain of voting mainly to stop someone worse.
asserted
enthusiasm → feel → someone
Two years ago, I wrote about why I would vote against genocide in the 2024 presidential election.
asserted
I → write → election
That decision was shaped by my work with Palestinian healthcare workers, by witnessing the realities in Palestine firsthand and by outrage at the Biden-Harris administration’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
asserted
decision → shape → Gaza
Neither I nor many of Michigan’s Muslims have forgotten.
asserted
I → forget → Muslims
But this time, the ballot offered something other than just a protest vote: a candidate who had opposed Israel’s genocide against Palestinians from the outset while also caring about the range of issues affecting Michiganders.
asserted
who → offer → Michiganders
His willingness to speak truth to power attracted immense hostility from Washington’s elites.
asserted
willingness → speak → elites
President Donald Trump repeatedly mocked Abdul’s name, treating “Muhammad” – his middle name, meaning “the praised one” – as an insult.
asserted
Trump → mock → insult
Political opponents and even some voters insinuated that his faith alone made him suspect, recycling unsubstantiated allegations tying him to groups and movements he did not belong to.
asserted
he → insinuate → groups
Abdul responded with dignity and directness.
asserted
Abdul → respond → dignity
When critics made his name the issue, he spoke about groceries, housing, healthcare and affordability.
asserted
he → make → groceries
When challenged over his opposition to genocide, he questioned the premise that wanting children to live free of bombs was somehow hateful.
asserted
children → challenge → bombs
He did not accept the proposition that a Muslim must disown his community or Palestine to qualify for public office.
asserted
Muslim → accept → office
And most importantly, he fought back.
asserted
he → fight → ?
Many Muslim voters I spoke to felt they had found someone willing to fight for them, to challenge the presumptions and racism of journalists, pundits and media outlets rather than accept their unjust framing.
asserted
they → speak → framing
His victory speech began with the words his opponents had tried to weaponise: “My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.”
asserted
name → begin → words
He recalled having said “inshallah” – “God willing” – whenever he was asked about winning.
asserted
he → recall → winning
Now, he said, it was time for “alhamdulillah”, or “Praise be to God.”
asserted
Praise → say → God
That moment was electric, not because Arabic phrases alone are a sign of solidarity – even former President Joe Biden said “inshallah” in a debate before proceeding to commit genocide against Palestinians and aid the bombing of mosques and burning of Qurans – but because his Muslim identity had survived a countrywide effort by special interest groups and racists to make it disqualifying.
asserted
it → say → groups
His faith, Islam, is a value system he actively chooses every day, a commitment he strives to live out in public life.
asserted
he → choose → life
…and 35 more, not listed.
The Aporia
