Siraj Wahhaj — imam, unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — appeared in a video montage at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention and declared: "I am ashamed of what America has become. Look at the newspaper every day, how America is going down."
The convention was held on American soil. The 25th anniversary of September 11th is Thursday.
Wahhaj's appearance was a warm-up act. The main event featured Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate candidate, and New Jersey cleric Zaid Shakur, who took the podium at ISNA and called members of the United States Congress "domestic enemies of the Constitution" and declared them "guilty of treason." His specific grievance: congressional support for Israel. "When the United States Congress passes laws on behalf of a genocidal, rapacious, nefarious foreign country to deny us the freedom of speech … that is a domestic enemy of the Constitution," Shakur said. "And as such, they are guilty of treason."
El-Sayed's mosque — the Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor — has its own history. An imam there named Algizawi delivered a 2022 sermon declaring that Islam "refuses" homosexuality and calling it "against human nature." That's the spiritual home of a man running for the United States Senate on a Democratic ticket, a party that has made LGBTQ advocacy a central plank of its platform for over a decade.
The ISNA itself is not some fringe gathering in a rented basement. It is the largest Islamic organization in North America. It holds annual conventions with thousands of attendees. It has been courted by politicians from both parties for decades. And this year, its convention featured a convicted co-conspirator in a terrorist attack on American soil calling for America's downfall — two days before the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history.
The objection from the other side writes itself: ISNA represents millions of peaceful American Muslims, and highlighting inflammatory rhetoric from a few speakers is Islamophobia. Which would be a stronger argument if the organization hadn't invited Siraj Wahhaj — a man linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — to headline a video package played for the entire convention audience. That's not a fringe attendee sneaking in a hot take. That's a programming decision.
El-Sayed is running in the 2026 midterms. He wants to represent Michigan in the Senate. He chose to appear at a convention where a man connected to the first World Trade Center attack said America is going down, and a cleric accused Congress of treason for supporting an ally. These were not side conversations in a hallway. These were podium speeches.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 is September 11th. The convention was this past weekend. The calendar speaks for itself.
