“Do you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?” Senate candidate Abd al-Rahman al-Sayyid responds

(CNN) - The Democratic Party candidate for Senate in the US state of Michigan, Abdel Rahman Al-Sayyed, answered a question from an audience member during an election event about his position on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Moments after Al-Sayyid finished giving his speech in Caro, Michigan, on Saturday, a man in the audience shouted, saying: “Oh Abdul (Rahman), do you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?”

Al-Sayed - who may become the first Muslim elected to the Senate - repeatedly faces accusations from Republicans that he sympathizes with entities linked to terrorism.

This question led to a heated discussion, as the man insisted on asking his question about the Muslim Brotherhood, indicating that he had not heard from the candidate any explicit declaration of disavowal of this group.

After Al-Sayed confirmed his disavowal of the movement, he strongly criticized the man, considering that his question implied an implicit assumption of his “dual loyalty.”

Al-Sayed said: “You are assuming... that, by virtue of being a Muslim, I might be motivated by loyalty to something other than our constitution. For me, this constitution is a beacon that guides my path.”

The man left the place after this discussion, while the audience shouted in support of Abdul Rahman Al-Sayyed.

The candidate had previously faced questions about possible links with this group. The most recent of these attacks came after old tweets by his sister (from the father) were circulated on the Internet. Among them is a post dating back to 2012, in which she said, “I had a wonderful conversation with my mother about her activity in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 1970s, when she was a student at the university.”

Earlier this week, Al-Sayed denied any ties between him or his family to the Muslim Brotherhood, and told reporters on Thursday that assuming that any member of his family is part of this group is “crazy.”