Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sparked a political and legal firestorm by publicly asking locals to report any attempts to impose “Sharia compliance.” This appeal came after a video from Houston went viral showing a Muslim preacher talking to merchants.
Abbott wrote on X that Texas has laws that “BAN Sharia Law and Sharia Compounds” and advised people to tell local law enforcement or the Texas Department of Public Safety if they see any attempts to do so. He said these things after seeing a video in which a Muslim preacher used a loudspeaker to instruct Houston businesses owned by Muslims not to sell alcohol, pork, or lottery tickets, which are all things that Islamic law says are not allowed.
Muslim human rights groups have quickly spoken out against what the governor said. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that Abbott was “dishonestly fearmongering” and made it clear that Sharia is not a civil legal system but a wide range of personal religion and moral practices. CAIR-Texas told Abbott in a statement that he should go to a mosque to learn what Sharia really means to Muslims.
The governor’s comments are part of a larger political argument that is still going on in Texas. There is no official “Sharia ban” in the state, but a legislation passed in 2017 says that state courts can’t use foreign or religious law if it goes against a person’s constitutional rights. Abbott signed a new law on September 12, 2025, that he says forbids “Sharia compounds.” This rule is aimed at initiatives like the projected EPIC City project, which Abbott criticized earlier this year. The governor has said several times that what he is doing is to defend religious freedom and stop prejudice.
The Houston Police Department has not made a public statement in response to the governor’s request for people to report attempts to “comply with Sharia.” The viral video and the political response that followed, on the other hand, have sparked a heated public debate over the role of religious rules in public life and where religious freedom ends and political speech begins.