On the campaign trail … City council and mayoral election heats up

By Charles Sercombe
Two Hamtramck city council candidates had some sharp words for some of the current councilmembers.
Both Abdulmalik Kassim and Luqman Saleh recently spoke at the Masjid Al Ihsan mosque on Holbrook for about three minutes total.
In a post on a Hamtramck Facebook page, Kassim said the reason they are running is “because of the reputation the city council has accumulated, that Muslims are corrupted. … That’s why we’re running, to clean up this mess.”
Although Kassim and Saleh avoided naming specific councilmembers, there are two on council, Mohammed Hassan and Muhtasin Sadman, facing felony election fraud charges.
Two other councilmembers, Abu Musa and Muhith Mahmood, are alleged to not actually live in the city and thus are non-residents. They are not facing criminal charges, and sources have told The Review that it’s unlikely they will be charged.
Kassim continued: “We are running to help everybody. We are running also to bring back the respect to city council. We Muslims are people of faith and ethics. We have manners.”
Saleh continued on the theme, and said that it’s important to “keep our Muslim community united.”
He also warned voters to not let anyone handle or fill out their ballots, presumably meaning absentee ballots.
“Don’t give it to nobody else,” Saleh said. “No fraud. We should do it the right way.”
Saleh said the public deserves the “best” elected officials. “Not the worst like what we have right now. They make us look so bad,” Saleh said.
The next election is in about two and a half weeks, on Nov. 4, from which the top three vote-getters in the council race will fill three seats, and one of the two mayoral candidates will get the job.
In other election news, mayoral candidate Adam Alharbi took a verbal swipe against his sole opponent Muhith Mahmood for allegedly not being a resident.
Alharbi told the Detroit News this week: “It’s a competition between someone who has lived here since he was a kid and someone who doesn’t live here.”
Mahmood, who is finishing up his first term on city council, has admitted that his wife and children live in Troy, but says that he became committed to Hamtramck and lives in an apartment here, on Holbrook.
He has also stressed that he does indeed visit his wife and children frequently, but insists he eats and sleeps here.
According to an investigator who looked into the issue of residency, Councilmember Abu Musa allegedly lives in Warren with his wife and children.
Musa also insists he lives in a house on Mitchell, and only visits his wife and children in Warren.
Posted Oct. 17, 2025