The young man who stands before God and leads worshippers in prayer is now waiting to take his seat in the national legislature of the United States. Abdul El-Sayed has become an inspiring example of seeing leadership in prayer at a mosque and leadership in running a state not as opposites but as a combined expression of knowledge, ability, ethics and responsibility.
What should Muslim leadership look like? Is it possible to have a leader who has religious knowledge, is devoted in worship and can lead people in prayer, and who is also skilled in modern education, science, economics, administration and governance? El-Sayed, elected to the Senate from Michigan in the United States, has raised that question afresh.
An old video that has recently spread on social media shows him reciting the Quran in a mosque and leading congregational prayers. It drew fresh attention after his win in the Senate race in the election of 3 November 2026. The video is about five years old and shows him leading prayers at a mosque in Detroit.
El-Sayed is not only a politician. He is trained in medicine, a public health specialist, a researcher and a Muslim openly proud of his faith. His political rise has opened a new chapter in the history of Muslim representation in America. Being seen leading prayers in the video does not, however, mean that he served as a professional or permanent imam of a mosque. It is one scene from his religious life.
He has never hidden his faith
El-Sayed is the son of an Egyptian immigrant family, a researcher at Oxford and a physician at Columbia University. His full name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. His academic record is exceptional: he is a physician, an epidemiologist and a public health specialist. He has not hidden his religious identity either. He used the word “inshallah” during his campaign, and when declaring victory he said it was time to turn “inshallah” into “alhamdulillah”.
He has spoken before about how his religious belief inspires ethics and humanity in his personal life, and he links religious identity with human dignity and mutual respect. Imam Suleiman Hani, resident scholar at the Muslim Community mosque in Farmington Hills, Michigan, describes him as someone he has known for a long time, practising in his faith and connected to the local Muslim community.
Why the prayer video has drawn so much attention
Since the video of El-Sayed leading prayers in a mosque went viral, many on social media have set his religious identity and his political success side by side. In the video he recites verses of the Quran and leads worshippers in Friday prayers. The video is said to be about five years old, and it has spread again after his rise in American politics.
One notable response is that people see in him a combination of a devout Muslim and a person capable of leading a state. Amid the debate over Muslim identity in American politics, the scene also carries symbolic weight. In an interview El-Sayed said his opponents had tried to present the way people pray and their religious identity as something frightening, but Michigan’s voters rejected that campaign. With those words he also raised the question of religious freedom and civil rights.
Imam of a mosque and leader of a state: can the two go together?
The idea is not new in the history of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was at once a leader in worship, a teacher, a judge, a social reformer and a statesman. In Medina the mosque was not only a place of prayer but also a centre of learning, consultation, social cohesion and the affairs of state. In later Muslim civilisation many scholars, judges, administrators, teachers and statesmen combined religious knowledge with the ability to govern.
That combination is needed in the modern age too. It is not enough for a young Muslim to have a religious identity alone; he must also be skilled in science, medicine, engineering, economics, technology, international relations, law and administration. Equally, higher education alone does not make a leader. Honesty, trustworthiness, a sense of responsibility towards people, justice and spiritual self-purification are also required.
Abdul El-Sayed’s case is an inspiring example for this discussion. But the video of him leading prayers gives no grounds to describe him as a fully trained religious scholar or a professional imam. Rather, it is the combination of his religious practice, his medical education, his research and his experience of political leadership that is the subject of discussion.
What lesson for young Muslims?
El-Sayed’s rise holds a big lesson for young Muslims. There is no substitute for ability if one is to build a respected place in society and the state. Leading a mosque requires mastery of the Quran, the Sunnah, fiqh and religious knowledge. Running a state requires deep knowledge of the constitution, economics, law, administration, science, international relations and public policy.
A person who can combine the two can play a positive role in both the religious and the civic life of society. One weakness of Muslim society is that we often see religious education and modern education as rivals. Yet gaining skill in the various branches of knowledge and applying it for the good of people is consistent with the fundamental teachings of Islam.
El-Sayed’s story is therefore not only the story of one Muslim’s election victory; it is also a call to young Muslims to prepare themselves. They must gain ability, receive education of international standard, do research, achieve professional excellence, understand people’s problems and become fit to take on the responsibility of leadership.
Whoever stands before people in a mosque must have piety and religious knowledge. Whoever leads the state must have knowledge, wisdom, skill, a sense of justice and trustworthiness. And when both qualities come together in one person, that is without doubt a fine possibility.
May God grant us a generation that reads the Quran, works in laboratories, creates knowledge in universities, runs hospitals, leads in the economy and technology, and is at the forefront of establishing people’s rights and justice.
There is no easy road to deliverance without gaining ability. The young Muslim we long for is humble before God in worship, devoted to learning, sincere in serving people and uncompromising in doing his duty. Such a young man is what we hope for.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report