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DETROIT — A Black Christian pastor who went viral online for clashing with the city council in the nearby majority-Arab city of Dearborn issued a stark warning about Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
“Can you imagine him being in the Senate, being able to recommend federal judges to presidents?” Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church said during an interview with Fox News Digital. “That’s his goal. His goal is to be able to recommend federal judge to presidents for appointments, and then we’re going to find ourselves in Sharia law all over this land.”
The Democratic nominee for Senate in the Wolverine State said in a 2009 New York Times interview that he was following Sharia law when he took out a special type of loan for an Ann Arbor condo. Sharia Law typically prevents interest on loans, and in some cases, Sharia-compliant Muslims can obtain loans wherein the amount of interest that would be paid over time is instead added to the purchase price of the home.
Reverend Lorenzo Sewell speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. ( )
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“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,” El-Sayed told the Times.
El-Sayed’s spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Washington Free Beacon when the report resurfaced earlier this month that, “While he lives by the rules of his faith, as many Americans of various faiths do, Abdul opposes any effort by any religious community to write their faith laws into the laws of our country.”
In a response to Fox News Digital, Richner characterized Sewell’s comments as “cheap attacks and hateful rhetoric” from an ally of El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
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As referenced by Sewell, members of the Senate often recommend political appointees to presidents, and ultimately, in the case of federal courts, the Senate confirms them.
He called El-Sayed a ‘fake doctor,’ referencing criticism of how El-Sayed has described his medical credentials. El-Sayed earned an M.D. from Columbia University but did not complete a residency and has not held a medical license in Michigan or New York.
Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, at a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan on August 2, 2026 ( )
Sewell also accused prominent Muslim politicians including, El-Sayed, of resisting assimilation into American culture.
“This is the type of conquering religion whereby people like Abdul El-Sayed, people like [Rep.] Rashida Tlaib, you have [Rep. Ilhan] Omar over there in Minnesota — you look at these people that have a desire, not to assimilate to our culture, but to take over our culture,” said Sewell. “They will wave flags to say ‘free Palestine.’ They will say ‘to the river, to the sea,’ all on American soil. I mean, these are the type of people that are not looking to assimilate. They’re looking to conquer.”
He added that if Christian ministers and “patriots” didn’t step up to combat Sharia law, he would be, “preaching out the Quran” and his “church would become a mosque.”
The pastor, who was born and raised on the east side of Detroit and says he was a “student of the streets” and “mentored by murderers,” is no stranger to media attention.
Imam Husham Al Husainy leads prayer during Ramadan at the Karbala Islamic Center on May 18, 2018 in Dearborn, Michigan. Southeastern Michigan has one of the largest Middle Eastern populations in the United States, and Dearborn has a large population of Iraqi, Lebanese, and Yemeni families. (Anthony Lansilote/Getty Images)
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Just last week, he was the subject of a viral video from a Dearborn, Michigan, city council meeting.
“We are not a nation of Muslims, we are nation of Christians!” he said in an impassioned speech directed towards the councilors. “America, we have lost this city. This is a city that is no longer up under American laws; we are up under Sharia law. We will not have it anymore.”
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He also hosted then-candidate Donald Trump at his church during Trump’s 2024 campaign, rallying Black voters. He spoke at the RNC that year, too.
Throughout the interview with Fox News Digital, Sewell expressed disdain for Democratic Party politicians, who he says have long oppressed African Americans.
Sewell isn’t a fan of the company El-Sayed keeps, either.
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, talks poolside with streamer Hasan Piker at a party for content creators supporting his campaign, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Detroit. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
He slammed El-Sayed for campaigning with socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11.” Piker has also praised Mao Zedong and Communist China, and said capitalists should be murdered in the streets and spewed a litany of antisemitic comments.
“I believe that there’s treason for you to say those type of words, that America deserves 9/11,” said Sewell.
He described Piker, who last week mocked the death of Charlie Kirk by singing a viral internet song in front of a crowd of socialists, as the “demonic” version of Kirk.
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El-Sayed further distanced himself from Piker Monday after Piker argued on his Twitch show that rhetoric linking American Jews closely to Israel could ultimately provoke attacks against American Jews — comments critics condemned as antisemitic victim-blaming.
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“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker said on the stream.
El-Sayed said all Americans should be able to advocate for their beliefs without fear of violence, affirmed his commitment to Jewish safety and called antisemitism a “scourge” that must be addressed “in all its forms.” He added that nobody speaks for his campaign except him and his campaign spokespeople.
Sewell concluded that Biblical values are American values.
“This is one nation under the God of the Bible. The reason why America is great — it’s because God is great,” he said. “God gave us victory, [in the] Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, [the] Civil Rights Movement. That happened essentially with Black and White Christians.”
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“And now people come from all over. We’re not saying you’re not welcome here. What we’re saying is assimilate to our culture.”
Omar and Tlaib did not return requests for comment.
