What is really behind Greg Abbott's war on Sharia'

"There are no Sharia courts in Texas only voluntary Muslim mediation panels operating under the same framework used by Jewish beth din courts and Christian arbitration services. Yet in a letter sent to district attorneys and sheriffs demanding an investigation, Abbott wrote that The Constitution's religious protections provide no authority for religious courts to skirt state and federal laws simply by donning robes and pronouncing positions inconsistent with western civilization, implying that Muslims were secretly building an alternative legal system."

"A day earlier, on November 18, Abbott issued an executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) the largest Muslim civil rights organisation in the country as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The order cited no crimes, no violence, no plot, no prosecutorial record. It was simply a sweeping claim that an American civil rights group constituted a national security threat."

"Lawyers immediately noted that Abbott does not have the authority to designate FTOs; only the US federal government does. But again, the point was not legal accuracy. This ineffectual order was more about political messaging than anything else. It was aimed to portray Muslim Americans and their institutions as suspect and their civic engagement as a security risk."

Governor Greg Abbott called for investigations into so-called Sharia courts despite there being no such courts in Texas, only voluntary Muslim mediation panels that follow the same arbitration framework as Jewish and Christian religious tribunals. Abbott's letter suggested religious protections cannot shield courts from state law and implied Muslims were building an alternative legal system. He issued an executive order labeling CAIR a foreign terrorist organisation without citing crimes or evidence and without legal authority to do so. Those actions functioned as political messaging intended to portray Muslim Americans and their civic institutions as security risks within a long-running panic-driven narrative.

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