密歇根州迪尔伯恩——民主党密歇根州参议员提名人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德站在一座挤满信徒的清真寺前，这座清真寺近一个世纪以来一直是这座底特律郊区穆斯林生活的核心。
DEARBORN, Mich.—Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic nominee for Senate, stood before the faithful in a packed mosque that has anchored Muslim life in this Detroit suburb for close to a century.
他援引信仰和道德义务，这位可能成为美国首位穆斯林参议员的人宣扬进步政策，并重申了他对美国支持以色列的批评。他在北美最大的清真寺之一——美国穆斯林协会清真寺发表演讲时说：“我们有权知道，我们的钱没有被浪费在发动战争、实施种族灭绝、为种族隔离撑腰上。”
Invoking faith and moral obligation, the man who could become the nation’s first Muslim senator preached progressive policies and reiterated his criticism of U.S. support for Israel as he spoke at one of North America’s largest mosques. “We deserve to know that our money isn’t being wasted to make war, to do genocide, to backstop apartheid,” he said at the American Moslem Society.
接下来的周末，在近200英里外的西部，一名中年男子在埃尔-赛义德另一场活动开始时站在舞台附近，高喊着引用《古兰经》和《圣经》的内容。“他的经书说的跟我的经书不一样，”他在密歇根州马斯基根的一座历史剧院被警察带离前说道。
The following weekend, almost 200 miles west, a middle-aged man stood near the stage at the start of another El-Sayed appearance and shouted a reference to the Quran and Bible. “His book says something different than my book,” he said, before police escorted him from a historic theater in Muskegon, Mich.
在这场美国中西部竞选的最后几周里，埃尔-赛义德的信仰和中东问题成为焦点，共和党人加强了对他穆斯林背景、交往关系以及从全民医保到曾呼吁削减警察经费等进步立场的批评。
El-Sayed’s faith and the Middle East have taken center stage in the closing weeks of this middle-of-America campaign, as Republicans have stepped up criticism of his Muslim background, associations and progressive leanings on everything from Medicare for All to prior calls to defund the police.