Full Breakdown
Abdul El-Sayed’s Sharia-Compliant Mortgage Comment Resurfaces Amid Michigan Senate Campaign
8/13/2026, 1:03:08 AM
Resurfaced 2009 Interview and Primary Victory
In a 2009 interview with *The New York Times*, Abdul El-Sayed—then a 24-year-old medical student—explained his decision to obtain a Sharia-compliant mortgage for a $123,000 condominium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The interview resurfaced this week as El-Sayed secured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat from Michigan after a narrow primary win. Had he prevailed in the November general election, he would have become the first Muslim elected to the Senate.
Background on Sharia-Compliant Financing
Sharia law prohibits interest (riba) on loans. To purchase a home without interest, many Muslim Americans use long-term payment plans that add a premium to the purchase price, or “Sharia-compliant” mortgages that structure payments as a series of lease-to-own transactions. El-Sayed’s 2009 arrangement avoided interest in accordance with this principle.
Key Figures
- Abdul El-Sayed — Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan; former medical student who publicly described his personal adherence to Sharia-based financial practices.
- Roxie Richner — Campaign spokeswoman who has emphasized El-Sayed’s belief in the separation of church and state.
- Louis Farrakhan — Leader of the Nation of Islam, whose controversial statements have been cited in media coverage of El-Sayed’s associations with religious figures linked to Farrakhan.
Data & Statistics
- Mortgage amount: $123,000 for a condominium in Ann Arbor, financed without interest.
- Financial disclosures: El-Sayed and his wife hold between $150,000 and $425,000 in Amana Mutual Funds, which screen out companies earning more than 5 % of revenue from interest, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pornography, or pork.
- Primary result: El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate primary by a narrow margin (exact vote totals not disclosed in the sources).
Verbatim Quotes
- “Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,” — Abdul El-Sayed — Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic Senate candidate (Michigan)
- “You’re going to want to not get these things in the shot,” — Abdul El-Sayed — Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic Senate candidate (Michigan)
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
- The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital when approached for a statement on the resurfaced interview.
- Media reports link El-Sayed to religious figures associated with the Nation of Islam and to organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America, which have appeared in past terrorism-financing investigations. The sources present these connections as background information; no formal allegations of wrongdoing against El-Sayed have been made, and he has not publicly addressed the implications of these associations.
What’s Next
El-Sayed’s campaign will focus on the November general election, where he faces Republican U.S. Representative Mike Rogers for the Michigan Senate seat. The outcome will determine whether the state’s first Muslim senator is elected.
