(The Center Square) – A Texas mayor appears to be the first to issue a proclamation banning Islamic Sharia law.
Keller Mayor Armin Mizani signed a proclamation “affirming constitutional supremacy, American sovereignty, and rejection of foreign legal systems,” stating that the U.S. and Texas constitutions “alone define the lawful framework for governance, justice, and civil order within this city.”
“In Keller, we are governed by American law, NEVER foreign legal systems like Sharia law or Sharia courts,” Mizani said in an X post. “As Mayor, I take my oath to the Constitution seriously. That’s why I have issued a proclamation affirming a simple principle: one U.S. Constitution, one legal system, and equal justice under the law. No competing legal systems have authority here.”
Keller is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Tarrant County and has a population of about 50,000.
The city “affirms that no foreign law, religious law, or external system of governance shall have any legal force or recognition within its jurisdiction and sharia law, sharia courts, and any other foreign or religious based systems are not recognized, authorized, or permitted to operate as civil or judicial authority within the city … and shall have no standing in municipal governance, adjudication, or public policy,” the proclamation states.
It also affirms the First Amendment rights of “every individual to freedom of religion, belief, expression, and peaceful worship, while making clear that religious belief does not confer authority to establish parallel legal systems or supersede civil law.”
Mizani said issuing the proclamation was “just the first step.” He plans to work with city council members “to permanently codify these principles,” he said. Mizani previously served on the city council from 2014 to 2020, when he was elected mayor.
He is now running for Texas House District 98, whose incumbent, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, announced his retirement. Capriglione won 68% of the vote in the last election in the Republican-dominant district.
In total, three Republicans and two Democrats are running for the seat in March primaries.
Mizani, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, said, “Texans should never apologize for our heritage or our values; instead, we should fight for them.”
The proclamation was issued as Texas lawmakers are leading an anti-Sharia law movement at the state and federal level, The Center Square reported.
U.S. Reps. Chip Roy and Keith Self, both Texas Republicans, last week launched a new Sharia-Free America Caucus in the U.S. House to “counter the alarming rise of Sharia Law in the United States,” they said. “Sharia is a dominating force that is not compatible with the U.S. Constitution.”
This is after they filed the Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act in October to prevent foreign nationals who follow Sharia law from entering the U.S. or from remaining in the country, The Center Square reported. Roy, who is running for attorney general, argues, “America is facing an existential threat – the spread of Sharia Law.”
Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for reelection next year, issued three directives targeting Islamic groups, first designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations. CAIR sued and maintains it is not a terrorist organization and doesn’t fund terrorism.
Abbott also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR and ordered an investigation into an Islamic Tribunal operating in north Texas in Self’s district that claims to make judicial rulings.
One week after Abbott’s FTO designation, President Donald Trump designated the Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also refiled a bill he’s filed multiple times over 10 years to ban all Muslim Brotherhood members from the U.S.
Abbott also requested the Treasury Department to investigate CAIR for its alleged terrorist ties and suspend its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit status, The Center Square reported.
Last week, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation to allow the Treasury Department to terminate the tax-exempt status of groups that provide material support to terrorism, which he argues includes CAIR.
“CAIR is a radical group of terrorist sympathizers with a long history of undermining American values and trying to unconstitutionally impose Sharia Law on Texas, which is why I stand behind Governor Abbott’s decision to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization,” Cornyn, who is running for reelection in a tough primary race, said in a statement.
He also called on Trump to designate CAIR as an FTO “at the federal level to ensure this breeding ground for anti-American hate is starved of funding and forced to close its doors once and for all.”
