The Republican governor of Texas has designated the Islamic political movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as foreign terrorist organisations.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott announced that he had proscribed CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations and transnational criminal organisations under Texan state law.
The action would proscribe the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the US as a “foreign terrorist organisation” and would authorise the state to try to shut them down.
CAIR was also deemed a “transnational criminal organisation”, which would ban it from being allowed to buy any land in the state of Texas.
Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood are designated as foreign terrorist organisations by the US government.
Abbott cited that his reasons behind the move were to “prohibit the enforcement of foreign laws in Texas, including Sharia law”.
As for the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abbott’s statement concluded that they were a terrorist organisation set on “waging jihad”, as he quoted the group’s founder Hassan al-Banna.
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Abbott also continued by providing evidence of other western and Muslim countries where the Muslim Brotherhood is banned, arguing that the US should be no exception.
Why was CAIR proscribed?
However, the biggest controversy lies in his proscription of CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the US, who also played a leading role in the release of British journalist Sami Hamdi from ICE detention last week.
“CAIR is an Islamist organisation that, according to the FBI, was founded as a ‘front group’ for ‘Hamas and its support network’ in the United States,” his statement read.
The statement also claimed that CAIR was an example of the “US-based Hamas network to regenerate itself” and that they were a product of Hamas’s “need to camouflage the identity of the new organisation”.
The stance against Sharia law has been growing among the American right, with many Republicans taking harsher vitriolic stances based on misinformation.
Abbott also claimed that CAIR’s Executive Director, Nihad Awad, said that Muslims “will have 50,000 army” and that they would run for public office, become lawmakers, all to “advance Sharia law in America”.
CAIR’s response
CAIR hit back with a strong response exposing Abbott’s “Israeli-first” agenda, claiming that the move was part of “anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government”.
CAIR stated that it has successfully sued Abbott on three separate occasions for “shredding the First Amendment to benefit the Israeli government”.
“We are ready to sue him again if he attempts to turn this publicity stunt into real policy. See you in court again, Greg… if you dare,” CAIR said in its response in a post on X.
CAIR said: “CAIR is our nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation. Our mission is to enhance the public’s understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
They labelled Abbotts claims as baseless defamatory claims rooted in “debunked conspiracy theories”.
“The real reason anti-Muslim hate groups and pro-Israel lobby group obsessively target CAIR and other American Muslim institutions is because of our steadfast advocacy for Palestinian rights,” CAIR continued in their statement.
Greg Abbott is known for his ardently Islamophobic stances and controversies in the past.
He was previously sued in April 2025 for the forceful violence unleashed on Muslim students in Texas who were protesting the Gaza genocide. The students alleged that they faced unlawful arrest simply for opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
CAIR said that Abbott did this to “satisfy his AIPAC donors”.
Republicans vs Islam
The recent designation by Abbott follows a growing targeting of Texas’ Muslim community, especially on social media.
EPIC City, a Muslim community development proposed by EPIC Masjid in Texas, was the victim of months of state action due to the 400-acre community development plans they had in the north-east of Dallas.
Abbott called it a “Sharia compound” and launched multiple investigations into alleged violations of the plans.
In September, the Texas Workforce Commission brought forward fair housing allegations, causing EPIC City to undergo fair housing training and implement non-discriminatory policies, and Texas Rangers are now investigating the project for unspecified potential criminal activity.
EPIC City representatives called the attacks about Islamic law misleading, dangerous and without merit.
The US Justice Department has since closed a federal civil rights investigation into the community without filing any charges or lawsuits.
Many Republican representatives have praised Abbott for his moves attacking Muslims and Sharia, claiming that the bans should be adopted nationwide.
