Tex Governor Abbot Abbott Calls for Criminal Investigations Into Sharia Courts Operating in Texas

By Pamela Geller | November 25, 2025

Lady Justice.  Photo by Deval Kulshrestha – File:1660 blk 19329 zoom.png, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia

We applaud Governor Abbott for addressing this oppressive, parallel government operating in our midst. Under Islamic law, there is no equality for all before the law.

Muslims are the only immigrant group who come to the West with a ready made model of society they believe to be superior to Western law and they work furiously, by all means, to impose it. Under Islam, shariah (Islamic) law supersedes Western law. Anywhere Western law and Shariah law conflict, it is always Western law that must give way. What those of us working in defense of freedom did not expect, was the craven capitulation and cowardice by Western left elites to Islamic supremacy.

Abbott Calls for Criminal Investigations Into Sharia Courts Operating in North Texas

The push comes amid heightened scrutiny over Islamist influence and institutions in Texas.

By Brandon Waltens | Texas Scorecord,
Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on law enforcement officials across North Texas to launch investigations into what he says may be illegal Sharia tribunals operating as rogue courts in Collin and Dallas counties.

In a letter sent to local district attorneys, sheriffs, the Texas attorney general, and the Department of Public Safety, Abbott warned that certain entities may be “masquerading as legal ‘courts’ staffed with ‘judges’ issuing orders” that claim to bind individuals to Islamic law—actions he says could violate multiple state criminal statutes.

Abbott noted that the First Amendment provides wide latitude for religious bodies to adjudicate internal doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters, but said that authority does not extend to attempting to function as a parallel legal system.

In 2017, Abbott signed House Bill 45, which prohibits Texas courts from enforcing foreign laws—including Sharia law—when they conflict with state or federal constitutional rights. The law was designed to ensure that family law disputes and other civil matters in Texas cannot be governed by foreign legal codes.

Additionally, he cited Texas Penal Code provisions that make it a crime to impersonate a judge, issue counterfeit court orders, or pass off documents as official government records.

The letter singles out the “Islamic Tribunal,” a group operating in the Dallas area, pointing to its public statements that it resolves a broad range of disputes according to “Islamic jurisprudence and its Shari’ah or Law” and claims “approval of the Texas Judicial system.” The group’s founding charter describes its decisions as “final according to Islamic jurisprudence,” something Abbott says crosses into unlawful authority.

Abbott warned that such practices “stray far beyond traditional church autonomy” and risk functioning as “a rival court in violation of the Texas Penal Code.”

“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,” he said.

As of publication, the Islamic Tribunal has not responded to a request for comment.

The governor urged Dallas and Collin County district attorneys, sheriffs, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and DPS to investigate any entities purporting to enforce sharia law or issue binding judgments in Texas.

“Legal disputes in Texas must be decided based on American law rooted in the fundamental principles of American due process, not according to Sharia law dispensed in modern day star chambers,” Abbott wrote.

The push comes amid heightened scrutiny over Islamist influence and institutions in Texas, including concerns surrounding the proposed EPIC City housing development (now renamed The Meadow) and Abbott’s separate designation of CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this week.