Will America outlaw Sharia law?

Florida Representative Randy Fine and Texas Representative Keith Self introduced the “No Sharia Act” last weekend in the U.S. House of Representatives “to ensure that no U.S. court, public agency, or legal institution can ever enforce or legitimize Sharia law. On X, Congressman Fine wrote, “You don’t get to come to this country and demand that our legal system accommodate your oppressive laws.”

Meanwhile, Texas has operated as ground zero for the fight. On September 12, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared on September 8 that Sharia law was illegal in Texas. In a post on Facebook the Governor wrote:

“In Texas, we believe in equal rights under the law for all men, women, & children. Any legal system that flouts human rights is BANNED in the state of Texas. SHARIA LAW AND SHARIA CITIES ARE BANNED IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.”

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) fired back, “The First Amendment guarantees that Texans of all faiths can freely and openly follow the personal rules of their religion, and no politician can take away that right… Like Jewish and Christian practices, Islamic practices in America can also encompass rules involving houses of worship, burial practices, estate distribution, and business contracts, which courts can and must uphold as long as those rules do not violate public policy.”

No, they must not. The red line for courts is not “public policy,” but rather the Constitution and laws of the United States. It is therefore no surprise that on September 12, Governor Greg Abbott upped the ante, signing a bill to ban Sharia compounds in Texas. In particular, Abbott and Texas legislators responded to a proposal by the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) to plan a community of thousands of Muslims-only in Josephine, Texas, where Sharia law would dictate daily life, commerce and education.

The notion that radical Islamist ideology or Sharia law must comprehensively govern Western society is a dangerous and anti-American viewpoint that would ultimately prove destructive to our civil liberties. A fundamentalist reading of Islamic law is at odds in several critical respects with core American promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A century ago, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson opined, “The law of the Middle East is the antithesis of Western law.”

Consider the contrasts. The First Amendment is a cornerstone of American public life. Under Sharia law, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are a fiction. Non-Muslims are considered inferior to Muslims. Non-believers must be converted, and in some parts of the Middle East governed by Sharia law, “pagans” have been and are still being beheaded for their failure to submit to Islam.

The Fourteenth Amendment, among other provisions, guarantees Americans equal protection under the law. Under Sharia law, men and women do not possess the same rights. Again, in some parts of the Middle East governed by Sharia law, women are not permitted a range of rights of privileges ranging from education to a driver’s license. Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for her advocacy for women’s education in Pakistan.

Article I of the Constitution protects the right to contract from state interference. Under Sharia law, traditional American banking methods and a range of American consumer goods are barred in toto. The charging of interest is forbidden; gambling is outlawed; and sales of alcohol, pork and carnivores are absolutely barred. Sharia law invalidates contracts involving excessive risk or uncertainty. This fall, a Houston imam launched Sharia patrols to warn stores to stop selling “haraam” (products prohibited under Islamic law) or face boycotts, demonstrations and community “educat[ion].”

Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, “the government may not enact laws that suppress religious belief or practice.” Of course, Muslims, including fundamentalist Muslims, have a Constitutional right to freely participate in their own deeply held religious convictions. However, under our Constitution, they may not impose their beliefs on others, certainly not on whole communities, and most assuredly not at the tip of a spear.

American courts have no obligation to endorse Sharia law when that worldview conflicts with the long cherished fundamental rights of U.S. citizens, including the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to contract and basic human equality. We are still one nation under God: no religion or sect can carve out an enclave exempting even the faithful from the protections or obligations of American law in these United States.