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A previously unreported social media post by Eman Abdelhadi, the half-sister of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, states that their mother participated in Muslim Brotherhood activism while attending college in the early 1970s, adding a new dimension to questions about the candidate’s family background following his public denial of ties to the transnational Islamist organization.
The post, published on June 24, 2012, was identified by Jewish Onliner while examining social media activity discussed in the October 11 investigation by the Washington Free Beacon.
In the newly identified statement, Abdelhadi, now an assistant professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago, wrote:
“Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect”
Abdelhadi and El-Sayed share the same biological mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, whose background has already become a subject of scrutiny during the Michigan Senate race. Unlike Abdelhadi's broader references to her family's Muslim Brotherhood connections, the newly identified post specifically attributes Brotherhood activism to Elkomy, the mother she shares with El-Sayed.
The wording also suggests that Abdelhadi viewed her mother’s involvement favorably, appending the hashtag “#respect” to the statement.
The post does not specify the nature of Elkomy’s activism, whether she held formal membership in the Brotherhood, or how long her reported involvement lasted.
New Finding Builds on Free Beacon Investigation
The discovery follows an October 11 report by the Washington Free Beacon, which identified several previously overlooked social media posts in which Abdelhadi discussed her family’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a now-deleted June 24, 2012 post, Abdelhadi wrote, “My family has long been MB,” using the common abbreviation for the organization.
In another statement from July 2013, she wrote that her family members had been jailed for their involvement in the Brotherhood, while expressing concern for relatives supporting the organization during Egypt’s political turmoil.
The posts appeared during a turbulent period in Egyptian politics, spanning the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power following Mohamed Morsi’s election as president in June 2012 and his removal by the military in July 2013.
El-Sayed Denied Family Ties on Meet the Press
The findings by Jewish Onliner and the Washington Free Beacon followed El-Sayed’s October 11 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, where moderator Kristen Welker pressed the Democratic Senate nominee about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The issue had surfaced during an October 8 Senate debate, when his Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, repeatedly raised questions about El-Sayed’s family connections to organizations associated with the Brotherhood.
Asked directly by Welker whether he or his family had any ties to the organization, El-Sayed responded with a categorical “No.”
El-Sayed maintained his denial throughout the exchange, characterizing Rogers’ accusations as an effort to exploit his Muslim identity for political purposes.
“The only reason he said those things is because he really wanted to repeat the word Muslim,” El-Sayed told Welker.
Mother's Employment at Relief Organization Sanctioned in 2004
Elkomy had previously attracted scrutiny over her employment with the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA-USA). According to an August 2026 investigation by The Midwesterner, she worked for the organization from 1999 through at least 2004. On October 13, 2004, the Treasury Department designated IARA’s worldwide network and five senior officials under counterterrorism sanctions, citing support for Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Taliban.
Elkomy was not charged with a crime in connection with the organization, and her employment there does not, by itself, establish knowledge of or participation in its illicit activities.
New Evidence Shifts Focus to El-Sayed’s Mother
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 and subsequently developed into a transnational Islamist movement. Hamas, established in 1987, emerged from its Palestinian branch. On January 13, 2026, the United States designated three Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations.
The Treasury Department designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for providing material support to Hamas, while the State Department designated the Lebanese branch as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Abdelhadi’s account places her mother’s reported Muslim Brotherhood activism in the early 1970s, more than five decades before the United States designated the movement’s Egyptian branch under terrorism sanctions. Her 2012 statement also stands in contrast to El-Sayed’s categorical denial that his family had any ties to the organization.