我的 WhatsApp 账号上弹出了来自纽约、加沙、巴基斯坦和澳大利亚的消息。朋友和同事们都在关注密歇根州的参议院竞选，兴奋地谈论着阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德。周二，随着韦恩县的计票结果锁定他的胜利，我感受到了一种在美国政治中极少体会到的情绪：不是那种有人落选后的闷闷不乐的如释重负，而是有人获选带来的真切喜悦与希望。
Messages popped up on my WhatsApp account from New York, Gaza, Pakistan and Australia. Friends and colleagues were following Michigan’s Senate race, talking excitedly about Abdul El-Sayed. As the results from Wayne County sealed his victory on Tuesday, I felt something I had rarely felt before in American politics: not a muted relief that someone had lost but genuine joy and hope that someone had won.
埃尔-赛义德是一名医生，曾任底特律卫生局局长，他击败了共和党人迈克·罗杰斯。他将成为有史以来首位当选美国参议员的穆斯林。作为一名来自密歇根州的穆斯林美国人，这让我感同身受。
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, defeated Republican Mike Rogers He will be the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate. As a Muslim American from Michigan, this hit home.
和密歇根州穆斯林社区的许多人一样，早在阿卜杜勒成为全国头条常客之前——从他 2018 年的州长竞选到他在当地清真寺的周五布道——我就认识他了。今年斋月开始时，我参加了他为穆斯林选民举办的一场市政厅会议。在几十位社区成员和领袖面前，阿卜杜勒承诺为所有密歇根州人而战。即使竞选压力不断加大，他对这一承诺的真诚与坚守依然显而易见。
Like many in Michigan’s Muslim community, I knew of Abdul long before he became a fixture in national headlines, from his 2018 gubernatorial campaign to his Friday sermons in local mosques. As Ramadan began this year, I attended one of his town halls for Muslim constituents. Before a few dozen community members and leaders, Abdul pledged to fight for all Michiganders. His sincerity and commitment to that pledge remained evident even as the pressures of the campaign intensified.
我见过他在我家附近参加社区成员的葬礼，看着他走到每个人面前，以善意问候众人。即使在精疲力竭的竞选最后几天，他仍亲自回复社区成员的信息，包括我的信息。
I have seen him attend funerals for community members near my home and watched him go from person to person, greeting people with kindness. Even in the final days of an exhausting campaign, he responded personally to messages from the community, including mine.
我们毕业于同一所大学——密歇根大学，他曾帮助领导那里的穆斯林学生协会。我后来曾在那里担任大学学生会主席。就在大选前几天，穆斯林校友（包括我）邀请他参加了一场与学生、家长和毕业生共聚的橄榄球赛前聚会。他的前任老师和学生曾向我骄傲地谈论他们所认识的这个人。
We attended the same university, the University of Michigan, where he once helped lead the Muslim Students’ Association. I later served as a college student body president there. Just days before the election, Muslim alumni (including me) invited him to a football tailgate party with students, parents and graduates. His former teachers and students have spoken to me with pride about the person they knew.
穆斯林美国人常被要求为任何偶尔说声“萨拉姆”（阿拉伯语：愿平安与你同在）或在选举日前现身清真寺的政客欢呼。阿卜杜勒不是一个来拉选票的社区局外人。他属于这个社区。
Muslim Americans are often asked to celebrate any politician who occasionally says “salaam” or appears in a mosque before Election Day. Abdul was not an outsider to our community coming to court us. He belonged to it.
在竞选期间，我迎请了数以百计的当地穆斯林社区成员、为他挨家挨户拉票的外州政治候选人以及他的幕僚进入我家。人们从与他关系最密切的人那里听到了这场竞选对美国穆斯林意味着什么。这种热情与那种主要为了阻止更糟的人而投票的、熟悉且令人沮丧的交易感截然不同。
During the campaign, I welcomed hundreds of local Muslim community members, out-of-state political candidates canvassing for him and members of his staff into my home. People heard from those closest to him what this race could mean for Muslim Americans. The enthusiasm felt different from the familiar, dispiriting bargain of voting mainly to stop someone worse.
两年前，我撰文阐述了为什么我将在2024年总统大选中投票反对种族灭绝。这一决定是由我与巴勒斯坦医护人员的工作、亲眼目睹巴勒斯坦的现实状况，以及对拜登-哈里斯政府串通加沙种族灭绝的愤怒所塑造的。我和密歇根州的许多穆斯林都没有忘记。但这一次，选票提供的不仅仅是一张抗议票：而是一位从一开始就反对以色列对巴勒斯坦人进行种族灭绝，同时又关心影响密歇根州民众的一系列议题的候选人。
Two years ago, I wrote about why I would vote against genocide in the 2024 presidential election. That decision was shaped by my work with Palestinian healthcare workers, by witnessing the realities in Palestine firsthand and by outrage at the Biden-Harris administration’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Neither I nor many of Michigan’s Muslims have forgotten. But this time, the ballot offered something other than just a protest vote: a candidate who had opposed Israel’s genocide against Palestinians from the outset while also caring about the range of issues affecting Michiganders.
他敢于向权势说真话的意愿招致了华盛顿精英们的极大敌意。总统唐纳德·特朗普多次嘲弄阿卜杜勒的名字，将他的中间名“穆罕默德”（意为“受赞誉的人”）当作一种侮辱。政治对手甚至一些选民暗示，仅凭他的信仰就让他令人怀疑，并重炒那些将他与他不属于的团体和运动联系在一起的无端指控。
His willingness to speak truth to power attracted immense hostility from Washington’s elites. President Donald Trump repeatedly mocked Abdul’s name treating “Muhammad” – his middle name, meaning “the praised one” – as an insult. Political opponents and even some voters insinuated that his faith alone made him suspect, recycling unsubstantiated allegations tying him to groups and movements he did not belong to.
阿卜杜勒以尊严和坦率作出了回应。当批评者将他的名字炒作成议题时，他谈论的是食品杂货、住房、医疗保健和生活可承受性。当有人就他反对种族灭绝的立场向他发出挑战时，他质疑了那种认为希望儿童免受炸弹轰炸就是充满仇恨的逻辑前提。他并不接受这样一个命题：穆斯林必须与自己的社区或巴勒斯坦划清界限，才有资格竞选公职。
Abdul responded with dignity and directness. When critics made his name the issue, he spoke about groceries, housing, healthcare and affordability. When challenged over his opposition to genocide, he questioned the premise that wanting children to live free of bombs was somehow hateful. He did not accept the proposition that a Muslim must disown his community or Palestine to qualify for public office.
最重要的是，他选择了反击。我采访的许多穆斯林选民都觉得，他们找到了一位愿意为他们而战、愿挑战记者、评论员和媒体机构的成见与种族主义、而非接受其不公正叙事框架的人。
And most importantly, he fought back. Many Muslim voters I spoke to felt they had found someone willing to fight for them, to challenge the presumptions and racism of journalists, pundits and media outlets rather than accept their unjust framing.
他的胜利选情演讲以对手试图武器化的那几句话开场：“我的名字是阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·穆罕默德·埃尔-赛义德。”他回忆起，每当被问及能否获胜时，他都会说“因沙安拉”——“真主意欲”。如今，他说，到了说“艾勒哈姆杜里拉”，即“赞颂真主”的时候了。那一刻令人振奋，并非因为阿拉伯语词汇本身就是团结的标志——即便前总统乔·拜登曾在辩论中说过“因沙安拉”，随后却致力于对巴勒斯坦人实施种族灭绝，并协助轰炸清真寺、焚烧《古兰经》——而是因为他的穆斯林身份在特殊利益集团和种族主义者的全国性围剿中幸存了下来，这些人曾企图让这一身份成为取消其资格的理由。
His victory speech began with the words his opponents had tried to weaponise: “My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.”He recalled having said “inshallah” – “God willing” – whenever he was asked about winning. Now, he said, it was time for “alhamdulillah”, or “Praise be to God.”That moment was electric, not because Arabic phrases alone are a sign of solidarity – even former President Joe Biden said “inshallah” in a debate before proceeding to commit genocide against Palestinians and aid the bombing of mosques and burning of Qurans – but because his Muslim identity had survived a countrywide effort by special interest groups and racists to make it disqualifying.
他的信仰伊斯兰教，是他每天主动选择的价值体系，是他努力在公共生活中践行的承诺。对他来说，身为穆斯林比阿拉伯族裔或祖籍出身更重要，后者不过是出生的偶然巧合。
His faith, Islam, is a value system he actively chooses every day, a commitment he strives to live out in public life. His being Muslim mattered to me more than his Arab ethnicity or ancestral origins, a simple happenstance of birth.
阻止他的背后也有资金支持。美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）关联的超级政治行动委员会在密歇根州民主党初选中斥资约3000万美元，这是为击败一位公开反对美国支持以色列实施种族灭绝和种族隔离的人而进行的非同寻常的投入。在胜利演讲中，阿卜杜勒感谢AIPAC给了他两次击败它的机会。一次失利不会瓦解该游说集团的权力。但密歇根州证明了，AIPAC的金钱投入不必然等同于对谁能获胜的一票否决权。
There was money behind the attempt to stop him too. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC’s) affiliated super PAC spent roughly $30m in Michigan’s Democratic primary, an extraordinary investment to defeat someone who openly opposed US support for Israel’s genocide and apartheid. In his victory speech, Abdul thanked AIPAC for the chance to beat it twice. One loss will not dissolve the lobbying group’s power. But Michigan demonstrated that AIPAC spending need not amount to a veto over who can win.
在纽约市长佐赫兰·姆马姆达尼获胜后，怀疑论者曾暗示，一位对巴勒斯坦问题直言不讳的穆斯林候选人只能在一个自由派大都市获胜，而无法在特朗普于2024年拿下的州取胜。埃尔-赛义德走遍了小城镇和村庄、工业城市和郊区，走访了教堂和清真寺，最终赢得了全州的胜利。
After Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York sceptics suggested that a Muslim candidate outspoken about Palestine could only win in a liberal metropolis, not a state that Trump carried in 2024. El-Sayed travelled from small towns and villages to industrial cities and suburbs, visiting churches and mosques, and he won statewide.
长期以来，密歇根州一直是美国穆斯林生活的中心，从迪尔伯恩著名的阿拉伯餐馆和咖啡馆，到全美首个穆斯林多数人口城市哈姆特拉克。几代人在经受怀疑和歧视的同时，建立起了清真寺、学校、企业和机构。密歇根州选出了一位密歇根大学的穆斯林校友，具有某种讽刺意味，该大学此前曾因对待反灭绝抗议者的方式而面临法律挑战。一些在校园里被视为危险的声音，首次在选票箱中找到了归宿。
Michigan has long been a centre of Muslim American life, from Dearborn’s famous Arab restaurants and coffee houses to Hamtramck, the first Muslim-majority city in the US. Generations have built mosques, schools, businesses and institutions while enduring suspicion and discrimination. There is irony in Michigan electing a Muslim alumnus of the University of Michigan, which has faced legal challenges over its treatment of antigenocide protesters. Some of the voices that were treated as dangerous on campus found a home at the ballot box for the first time.
全国各地的其他穆斯林也创造了历史。我的导师、朋友兼同事亚当·哈马维在新泽西州赢得了国会竞选，并前往密歇根州支持阿卜杜勒；我们曾一同在巴勒斯坦执行医疗任务，记录对人们健康的危害。达里莉萨·阿维拉·舍瓦利耶、阿贝尔·卡瓦斯、纳比拉·赛义德以及其他许多人在全国各地的国会和州议会赢得了席位，他们拒绝接受“对侵犯人权行为保持沉默是参与政治的代价”这一逻辑。
Other Muslims across the country made history too. My mentor, friend and colleague Adam Hamawy, with whom I served on a medical mission in Palestine documenting harm to people’s health, won his congressional race in New Jersey and travelled to Michigan to support Abdul. Darializa Avila Chevalier, Aber Kawas, Nabeela Syed and so many others won seats in Congress and state legislatures across the country, refusing to accept that their silence on human rights abuses is the price of participation.
然而，我们的庆祝并不意味着我们已暂停一切判断。我交谈过的一些穆斯林强烈反对阿卜杜勒与前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯和前总统巴拉克·奥巴马并肩竞选。这些政府的政策——从助长加沙的种族灭绝到在多个穆斯林占多数国家对平民实施无人机袭击——依然萦绕在人们心头。我理解他们的愤怒，也分享他们对将杀害儿童者常态化的担忧。
Yet our celebration does not mean we have suspended all judgement. Some Muslims I spoke with vehemently opposed Abdul’s decision to campaign alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama Their administrations’ policies, from facilitating the genocide in Gaza to conducting drone strikes against civilians in multiple Muslim-majority countries, remain at the forefront of people’s minds. I understood their anger and shared their apprehensions about normalising the killers of children.
然而，我们许多人仍投了阿卜杜勒的票，因为我们相信他的真诚，也因为他已多次明确表示，并不同意支持他竞选者的每一项政策。我绝不抱幻想，认为一位参议员就能终结那些在海外为战争机器输血、在国内辜负自己社区的剥削体系与结构。如果误以为穆斯林的代表性是争取解放的唯一工具，那它就有沦为空壳的风险。
Yet many of us still voted for Abdul because we believed in his sincerity and because he had repeatedly made clear that he did not agree with every policy of those backing his campaign. I am under no illusion that one senator alone will end the systems and structures of exploitation that fund war machines abroad and fail their own communities at home. Muslim representation risks becoming hollow if mistaken for the only tool for liberation.
这正是他竞选实质的重要所在。阿卜杜勒将反对无休止战争的斗争，与争取医疗保健、清洁水源和体面工资的斗争联系在了一起。他讲述了一位母亲努力让孩子坚持服用救命药物，一位工人为争取工会而战。他坚持认为，用于毁灭他人孩子的金钱，也要由美国的孩子来承担代价。他的政治主张发问：美国人能否既认清自身利益，又对他人展现人性。
And that is precisely why the substance of his campaign matters. Abdul connected the fight against endless war to the fight for healthcare, clean water and a liveable wage. He spoke of a mother trying to keep her children on lifesaving medication and a worker fighting for a union. He insisted that the money spent destroying someone else’s children has a cost for children in the US too. His politics asked whether Americans could both recognise their own self-interest and show humanity towards others.
他的当选不会让美国政府政策一夜之间变得更加公正。它无法让一个巴勒斯坦儿童起死回生。它不能为民主党、华盛顿或我们任何人免除共谋的责任。当然，它更不意味着阿卜杜勒有权在参议院任职六年而无需接受审视。
His election does not make US government policies any more just overnight. It does not bring back a single Palestinian child. It does not absolve the Democrats, Washington or any of us of complicity. And it certainly does not entitle Abdul to six years in the Senate without scrutiny.
但它粉碎了一个方便的谎言：即穆斯林美国人必须在毫不掩饰地做穆斯林、与完全融入美国公共生活之间二选一。
But it destroys one convenient lie: that Muslim Americans must choose between being unapologetically Muslim and belonging fully to American public life.
多年来，我们被告知要压低声音、把名字改得柔和，并重新考虑我们所主张的事情，如果我们想要成功的话。周二，密歇根州给出了裁决。这个他们曾试图将其打造成无法当选的人，如今将进入美国参议员席位。真主至大，他不需要减少其穆斯林的色彩来为他的州服务——而我们其余的人也不需要去审视我们的身份，从而为我们自己及未来的子孙后代去争取一个更好的未来。
For years, we were told to lower our voices, soften our names and reconsider what we advocate for if we wanted to succeed. On Tuesday, Michigan delivered its verdict. The man they tried to make unelectable will now sit in the US Senate. Alhamdulillah, he does not need to become less Muslim to serve his state – and the rest of us do not need to police who we are to demand a better future for ourselves and the generations to come.