Asked about Muslim Brotherhood, Abdul El-Sayed tells man "it's you who needs to understand the Constitution"
A man at a town hall Saturday in Caro, Michigan, asked Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed said "absolutely," then questioned the man in return.
El-Sayed is running to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. He asked the man why he was asking. The man, who gave his name as Tommy, said the Muslim Brotherhood is "a terrorist group" and that he had not heard El-Sayed disavow it.
El-Sayed said the question implied he would have "dual loyalties" and "some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution." The man said yes, that was what he was implying. El-Sayed said he had just answered the question.
"You assume, Tommy, that because I am Muslim, that somehow I would have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution," El-Sayed said.
He compared the question to one John F. Kennedy faced as the first possible Catholic president, when, El-Sayed said, Kennedy was asked whether he would have allegiance to the pope. El-Sayed said Kennedy's answer was that he was not running to be a Catholic president, but to be president, and happened to be Catholic.
"I'm not running to be a Muslim senator. I'm running for U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim," El-Sayed said.
He said he will swear an oath to the Constitution, which he said guarantees him "the right to pray as I choose to pray or not pray at all."
El-Sayed then asked the man about his faith. The man said he is a Christian and tries to live by Christian doctrine. "I'm never going to tell you what faith you can or can't practice," El-Sayed said.
El-Sayed asked whether the man would disavow "any attempt to read any religious doctrine into the laws of our country." The man answered, "I do not."
"I think it's you who needs to understand the Constitution, not me," El-Sayed said. The crowd cheered and chanted, "Bye, Tommy."
The race has turned contentious this month, CBS News has reported. El-Sayed said Thursday it could go down as "one of the ugliest campaigns in modern history." Republicans have sought to portray him as an Islamic extremist. El-Sayed has denied any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and has criticized the attacks as tied to his faith.
Republican nominee Mike Rogers also addressed the Islamist political movement. Rogers said he has never called El-Sayed a terrorist. Asked by CBS News on Thursday whether he thinks El-Sayed is a terrorist, Rogers replied, "Look at the data. It's pretty clear."
"I wore the uniform of the United States of America so people can pray any way they want," Rogers said. "That is not the issue here."
Rogers said the issue is El-Sayed's alleged relationship, and his family's, with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Rogers said is banned in five Muslim countries. He said El-Sayed "wants to play the victim."
"This is about the way you think, not the way you pray," Rogers said. "This is about your ideology and how dangerous it is."
El-Sayed held a narrow lead over Rogers, 45.6% to 41.4%, among likely voters in a Mitchell Research & Communications poll conducted Oct. 1, with a 3.8% margin of error. The two met for their first debate on Oct. 8 in Grand Rapids.
Election Day is Nov. 3, about two weeks away.
