Abdul El-Sayed confirms he will swear on Quran in historic first
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Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has confirmed he plans to take his oath of office on a Quran, making him the first US senator in American history to be sworn in using Islam’s holy book.
Speaking about his upcoming January inauguration, the Democrat said he is still deciding which historic copy of the text to use for the ceremony.
"I will likely swear on a Quran. Which Quran, we're not sure," El-Sayed said. "Thomas Jefferson had a copy of a Quran, so when Keith Ellison was sworn into Congress, he swore in on that copy. There's also - the University of Michigan holds the first Quran in the state of Michigan. It's very, very old, and that might be the choice."
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed confirms he will swear on the Quran. 🇺🇸 He would become the first U.S. senator in history to take the oath of office using the Quran. https://t.co/f8mVFo2CUF
— Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) November 12, 2026
El-Sayed made history earlier this month by winning Michigan’s US Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the upper chamber.
While former US Representative Keith Ellison became the first member of Congress to use a Quran during his 2007 House swearing-in -using Jefferson’s 1764 English translation from the Library of Congress - no US senator has ever done so. Under the US Constitution, elected officials are not required to use any religious text when taking the oath of office, though many choose a book meaningful to their faith.
El-Sayed will be sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in January.
