Gov. Greg Abbott warns tribunal calls for stoning, cutting off hands as part of ‘Islamic solution’ to crimes
A Texas imam affiliated with an organization designated by Gov. Greg Abbott as an “extrajudicial tribunal” practicing Islamic law is also a volunteer chaplain with a Houston-area sheriff’s office, The Christian Post has learned.
On Wednesday, Gov. Abbott notified district attorneys and sheriffs in North Texas of “possible criminal violations” by entities he claimed were “masquerading as legal courts” and purporting to practice and enforce a form of Islamic law, or Sharia.
The Nov. 19 letter, which was also addressed to Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Texas Department of Public Safety, acknowledged that religious entities are afforded protection under the U.S. Constitution to conduct their own proceedings involving doctrinal and ecclesiastical issues, but that does not extend to the creation or enforcement of an extrajudicial legal system.
“The First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom provides wide berth for religious institutions to order their own affairs under the ‘church autonomy’ doctrine […] A Presbyterian session, a Catholic bishop, a Jewish beit din — all may inquire into wrongdoing and correct their members to preserve the purity, peace, and good order of a congregation,” wrote Abbott. “It is different entirely, however, for religious groups to set up courts purporting to replace actual courts of law to evade neutral and generally applicable laws.”
Abbott’s letter identified “The Islamic Tribunal,” a Dallas-area nonprofit which bills itself as a “unique institution […] with the intention of erecting this institution in order to set a precedence (sp) that will be emulated and duplicated throughout the country.”
Led by four imams, the Tribunal is headed up by Yusuf Ziya Kavakci, a Dallas resident who, according to the site, serves as resident scholar for “the largest mosque” in North Texas, the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT) in Richardson.
Another “current committee member” listed on the Tribunal website is Irhabi Mohamed, whose bio identifies him as a “full-time imam and mufti,” or Islamic legal authority, as well as a “volunteer chaplain for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.”
In 2022, a local news report identified Mohamed as one of three Muslim chaplain members with the county, which has over 60 chaplains from different faith traditions.
Montgomery County is part of the Houston Metroplex area.
According to Abbott’s letter, the Islamic Tribunal “purports to exercise jurisdiction over all aspects of life — even over non-ecclesiastical legal disputes — and to subject them to ‘Islamic Jurisprudence and its Shariah or Law.’”
“Despite suggesting that submission to its jurisdiction is voluntary, the Tribunal commands that all ‘Muslims here in American are obligated to find a way to solve conflicts and disputes according to the principles of Islamic Law’ and it steers them away from ‘[t]he courts of the United States of America [which] are costly and consist of ineffective lawyers,’” Abbott wrote.
Billed in its founding charter as authorized to “resolve any dispute among Muslims residing in the USA […] under the approval of the Texas Judicial system,” the Tribunal claims any decision issued by its judges is “final according to Islamic jurisprudence,” according to Abbott.
“That body of Islamic jurisprudence, the Tribunal admits, includes ‘[s]toning adulterers, cutting of the hands, polyandry and the like,” the governor said, adding any claim that the Tribunal has state approval is false.
“To the extent an extrajudicial tribunal holds itself out as a ‘court’ that is authorized to issue ‘final’ and ‘binding’ decisions, resolving ‘any dispute’ among American Muslims, who are ‘obligated’ to submit to ‘an Islamic solution,’ even to the point of ‘stoning’ — all while claiming ‘the approval of the Texas Judicial system’ — it strays far beyond traditional church autonomy and instead masquerades as a rival court in violation of the Texas Penal Code,” wrote Abbott.
The governor instructed the letter’s recipients — Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner and Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown — to “investigate efforts by entities purporting to illegally enforce Sharia law in Texas” in cooperation with Paxton and the DPS.
When contacted by CP to verify Mohamed’s status with the department, a Montgomery County Sheriff’s spokesperson said Mohamed is “currently serving” as a volunteer chaplain for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, a role he has held since 2021.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Miranda Hahs said the chaplaincy program is “entirely voluntary and is designed to provide support across a wide spectrum of faiths. The service provided is non-denominational in its delivery to staff and community members unless a specific denominational request is made.”
All chaplaincy candidates are required to complete a “comprehensive background check” along with police chaplain training upon acceptance into the program, Hahs added.
The Islamic Tribunal did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. This article will be updated if a response is received.
Just one day after his letter to law enforcement, Abbott — who is running for reelection in 2026 — designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as “foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.”
The proclamation directs DPS agents assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to “gather intelligence and initiate investigations into potential violations of state and federal law” involving “any group conspiring to engage in criminal activities or seeking to establish or promote a breeding ground for extremist Islamic radicalism that violates Texas law.”
In response to the executive order, the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund (CAIR LDF) announced the groups filed a federal lawsuit to block enforcement of Abbott’s “unconstitutional and defamatory” proclamation.
“The lawsuit we have filed today is our first step towards defeating Governor Abbott again so that our nation protects free speech and due process for all Americans,” CAIR Litigation Director and General Counsel Lena Masri said in a statement. “No civil rights organizations are safe if a governor can baselessly and unilaterally declare any of them terrorist groups, ban them from buying land, and threaten them with closure.”
