DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Michigan U.S. Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed expects to use a Quran when he is sworn into office in January.

El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, discussed his plans during an interview with NPR published Thursday.

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“The opposition decided to make my name such an issue and my faith such an issue,” El-Sayed said. “And so, you know, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is as American as Mike Rogers. It’s as American as Donald Trump. It’s as American as whatever JD stands for. It is an American name.”

Taking the oath

He also took a jab at Vice President JD Vance, who called El-Sayed a “little weasel” while campaigning for Republicans in Michigan.

“There is, as I said, a delicious irony in the fact that he is constitutionally obligated to swear me in,” El-Sayed said.

Vance is expected to administer the oath, but he is not personally required to do so. The Senate’s president pro tempore can administer it in the vice president’s absence.

So help me God

Religious books, including the Bible and Quran, are optional when senators take their oaths. The oath pledges allegiance to the Constitution, regardless of whether a religious text is used.

The Senate’s oath of office reads: “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

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U.S. Religion Census estimates show Michigan’s Muslim population roughly tripled between 2000 and 2020, reaching about 242,000.

Campaign Mosque Visits Draw Scrutiny

Separately, El-Sayed’s campaign appearances at several Michigan mosques drew scrutiny over statements made by speakers at those institutions.

Michigan News Source previously reported on recordings compiled by the Middle East Forum (MEF), including a January 2025 address at the Islamic Center of Detroit in which speaker Zulfiqar Shah described America as the “house of Shaitan [Satan].” The report also detailed prayers calling for violence against Zionists.

Those statements were made by speakers at the institutions, not El-Sayed. MEF has called for scrutiny of the institutions’ political activities and public funding, citing campaign appearances, endorsements from the pulpit and the recorded sermons.