(RNS) — Within 24 hours of Abdul El-Sayed becoming Michigan’s Senate Democratic nominee, the candidate faced an onslaught of attacks. But instead of critiquing his policy positions or campaign promises, the comments focused on his background and Muslim faith, framing the epidemiologist-turned-political candidate as a danger to the country.
Anti-Muslim hate targeting El-Sayed online rose twentyfold in the days after his win,according to a study from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate. Many tied El-Sayed to terrorism, but the study noted others claimed he would impose Islamic law and warned of the alliance between “Islamists and communists.”
Posts also “advocated ‘remigration,’ the mass removal of Muslims from Western countries, as the only solution to a claimed ‘Islamic takeover,’ ‘invasion,’ and ‘conquest,’” according to the study.