Camp County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to denounce Sharia law before a packed courtroom in Pittsburg, Texas. People filled the seats and stood along the walls, then broke into applause when County Judge A.J. Mason (R-Camp County) announced the result.
Mason moved to approve the resolution on the court’s agenda, and Precinct 4 Commissioner Steve Lindley (R-Camp County) seconded the motion. “It’s extremely powerful to have the room full of people who are interested in what’s happening in their community and in their county,” Mason told the crowd.
Mason and all four commissioners signed the five-page resolution, which cites equal rights and due process and affirms the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution. It says Camp County “denounces Sharia Law in all forms and opposes any implementation of Sharia Law” locally, statewide and nationally.
Van Zandt County commissioners used nearly identical language in an October 7 proclamation.
The Republican Party of Texas made “Don’t Sharia Our Texas” a legislative priority in June and called for expanding a 2017 law on foreign judgments and arbitration awards. That same month, filmmaker Chris Burgard’s documentary Remember the Alamo: Don’t Sharia My Texas premiered in Dallas.
The documentary examines Sharia’s influence on women’s rights abroad and features Burgard’s interview with Aziz Budri, director of the Islamic Association of Texas, about Islamic law and religious liberty in America.
Where Sharia goes beyond personal conduct
At a July open house at the Islamic Association of Collin County in Plano, GainPeace Director Sabeel Ahmed described Sharia as guidance on personal conduct, including charity and family obligations. Texas judges have also had to decide whether to give legal effect to divorces obtained abroad under Islamic law.
On September 25, the Texas Supreme Court refused to recognize a Pakistani divorce in Azhar v. Choudhri. A Houston man obtained it through talaq, a form of unilateral divorce under Islamic law.
The couple had accumulated more than $100 million in community assets, and the wife learned of the divorce two years after it became final. The justices found the notice inadequate and sent the case back.
In 2024, a Dallas appeals court upheld a Texas divorce decree in in re Marriage of Sabir and Javed after finding no evidence the wife had received notice before the Pakistani proceeding ended.
Texas court rules require a hearing in certain family cases to decide whether to enforce a judgment or arbitration award based on foreign law. In April, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-Texas) demanded records from the Dallas-based Islamic Tribunal to determine whether it misrepresented its decisions as having state court approval.
The tribunal said it updated its website “to eliminate public confusion,” as The Dallas Express reported April 26. Its current statement describes its services as voluntary, nonbinding religious mediation and arbitration and says it refers matters requiring legal enforcement to Texas courts.
In England, University College London is informing students about a planned Sharia-compliant alternative to standard loans, as The Dallas Express reported. Under the government’s plan, the Student Loans Company would administer the program. Participants would pay into a shared fund in amounts equal to conventional student loan repayments.
What AbuZaid and Farooq said
Imam Karim AbuZaid, whose group plans to open a mosque and outreach academy at a former Richardson Baptist church, called Texas Democrats’ midterm wins a chance “for us Muslims to grab” in a November 6 sermon. Discussing scripture, he said “the believers now have to confront the disbelievers,” adding “not necessarily physically.”
He cited intellectual debate and elections as lawful means and said “it will escalate” to confrontation. “It has to at the end,” he added. He also argued that only Sharia could bring peace and said they would not force it on people.
At a May conference in Arlington, AbuZaid said “Islam will rule the world again” as he discussed Jesus’ return. At the same event, imam Uthman ibn Farooq said making America a Muslim country was “our goal” and urged peaceful Islamic outreach.
When the two appeared in McKinney on September 18, Farooq said, “we want Islam for this country.”
He cited past Muslim rule in Spain, Portugal and Sicily and described a Muslim leader advancing “sword in hand.” Farooq said the Richardson center would train young Muslims to spread Islam in schools and workplaces and replicate the outreach “in every city all over the world.”
