Muslim reformers condemn Wajahat Ali's 'fire will rise' warning on El-Sayed race as 'Jihad First' rhetoric

A group of American Muslim reformers is denouncing political commentator Wajahat Ali after he warned that 'the fire will rise' and people would be 'radicalized' if Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed loses his Michigan Senate bid. They say his language resembles the intimidation rhetoric religious hard-liners have used before elections in the Middle East.

Ali drew backlash on Monday with a post on X reading: 'If, God forbid, Abdul loses, this will be a watershed moment in Democratic politics. The fire will rise. It's over. People will be radicalized against corporate, pro-Israel Dems. There will be a reckoning.' On Tuesday morning he posted again, expressing no regrets and accusing critics of 'Islamophobia and anti-Arab bigotry.' Ali did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The dispute exposes a broader fissure within American Muslim politics: between establishment organizations and leaders who accept political Islam, or Islamism, the idea that religion should shape government, and reform-minded critics who reject anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric and support the separation of mosque and state.

'What Wajahat Ali said on the eve of elections is actually the language we've seen Islamists use before elections in countries in the Middle East, including Egypt,' Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian Muslim reformer and Washington, D.C., director at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, told Fox News Digital. 'The threat is usually: If you don't choose us, this will lead to radicalization, and this will lead to violence.'

Soraya Deen, a Muslim reform activist, attorney and co-founder of the Los Angeles Women's Multifaith Alliance, said the post should not be dismissed as a routine social media outburst. 'His warning that the fire will rise, that people will be radicalized, and that a reckoning is coming deserves serious scrutiny,' she said. 'Losing an election is not a license for radicalization. We must reject intimidation, political extremism and the politics of perpetual grievance.'

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a Republican congressional candidate in Arizona's 4th Congressional District, said Ali's remarks reflect a 'Jihad First' lens for viewing every cultural, social, military and political conflict. 'Any honest Muslim who reads that post will see Jihad First and everyone else be damned, including patriotic Muslims,' Jasser said.

The reformers did not accuse Ali of belonging to any Islamist organization. Their criticism centered on language they said mirrors tactics used to pressure voters by warning that rejecting a candidate could produce violence or radicalization.

Ali's comments came as El-Sayed's campaign draws support from a wide network of Muslim advocacy groups, Palestinian activist organizations, progressive groups and labor organizations. A Fox News Digital review of endorsements, public statements and voter-mobilization efforts identified 70 Muslim groups and influencers supporting El-Sayed's political orbit in one way or another, including CAIR Action, Emgage Action, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Linda Sarsour's MPower Action. The broader coalition includes Democratic Socialists of America chapters and figures such as Hasan Piker, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Critics describe it as a 'red-green' alliance of left-wing organizations and Muslim advocacy groups.

Ziada argued that figures like Ali are 'using the political movement backing Abdul El-Sayed as a staircase' to power, adding, 'if they don't get there, they will turn it into fire.' She also compared the 'demonization of Israel' in El-Sayed's campaign to tactics of Middle Eastern dictators who, she said, 'bring up the Israel is bad card' whenever they face economic or political trouble. She spoke Tuesday morning, the same day President Donald Trump announced he would cut off $4 billion of aid to Israel, one of the network's demands.

Ali has been a prominent media figure for more than two decades, writing for or appearing on outlets including The Daily Beast, The New York Times, CNN and The Guardian, and hosting programming for Al Jazeera America. His activism began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with campus protests at the University of California, Berkeley, and he later worked with Democratic operative Faiz Shakir at the Center for American Progress. Most recently, he hosted a speaker who called House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries an 'AIPAC monkey,' a smear that drew cries of racism against Jeffries, who is Black.