American Muslim reformers are torching political commentator Wajahat Ali after he warned that "the fire will rise" and people will be "radicalized" if Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed loses his Michigan Senate bid, saying his language echoes a "Jihad First" intimidation rhetoric used by religious tyrants before elections in the Middle East. On Monday, Ali drew fire on X when he wrote: "If, God forbid, Abdul loses, this will be a watershed moment in Democratic politics. People will be radicalized against corporate, pro-Israel Dems.
There will be a reckoning. If, when, he wins, it will be a watershed moment. And that reckoning will still come." After facing backlash, Ali posted another message Tuesday morning, expressing no regrets and instead scolding critics for alleged bigotry.
"Ah, that Islamophobia and anti-Arab bigotry are so pure and naked," Ali wrote. "People are just coming out in the open about how they’ve always felt. Just share the ugliness with the world so we can all see." Ali didn't respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Reform-minded Muslim leaders aren't buying Ali's rhetoric. The divide with Muslim reformers reflects a broader fissure within American Muslim politics: between establishment organizations and leaders who accept political Islam, or Islamism — the idea that religion should shape government and political life — and reform-minded critics who challenge orthodoxy, reject anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric and support secularism, including the separation of mosque and state. "What Wajahat Ali said on the eve of elections is actually the language we’ve seen Islamists use before elections in countries in the Middle East, including Egypt," Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian Muslim reformer and critic of political Islamism, told Fox News Digital.
"The threat is usually: If you don’t choose us, this will lead to radicalization, and this will lead to violence," added Ziada, who is Washington, D.C., director at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. "Maybe we need to expect troubles coming up." EL-SAYED'S PAST MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD COMMENTS RAISE RED FLAGS AS HE EYES POWERFUL ROLE Soraya Deen, a Muslim reform activist, attorney and co-founder of the Los Angeles Women's Multifaith Alliance, said Ali’s language shouldn't be treated as a routine social-media outburst. "His words are deeply troubling," Deen told Fox News Digital.
"His warning that ‘the fire will rise,’ that people will be ‘radicalized,’ and that a ‘reckoning’ is coming deserves serious scrutiny." "Losing an election is not a license for radicalization," added Deen, . "We must reject intimidation, political extremism and the politics of perpetual grievance." EX-DSA MEMBER RIPS ABDUL EL-SAYED AND WARNS FAR-LEFT ADOPTING POLITICS OF FOREIGN TERROR ORG Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim reformer and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said Ali’s comments reflect what he describes as a "Jihad First" lens for viewing political conflict.
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