It’s crucial for Americans to take a stance before Sharia courts potentially become more common, and Brigitte Gabriel is striving to raise awareness about this issue.
In a conversation with BlazeTV host Nick Freitas, Gabriel recounted a painful moment from her childhood in Lebanon—a time when her family faced violence from Islamic extremists—on September 11, 2001, as she watched the Twin Towers collapse with her daughter. Her daughter looked to her and asked, “Mommy, why did they do this to us?”
“And, in that moment,” Gabriel shares, “I found myself echoing the exact words my father told me when I was a young girl in a hospital in Lebanon, wounded and hooked to IVs. I was ten years old and asked my father, ‘Why did they do this to us?’”
“He replied, ‘They hate us because they view us as infidels and want to kill us.’ How surreal it was, two generations and continents apart, to have to say those same words to my daughter,” she reflects.
Gabriel mentions that that day marked her awakening as an activist, which inspired her to establish the Act for America foundation back in 2002.
The foundation aims to mobilize individuals across the country, helping them understand how to make a difference in policy at the local level.
Currently, it boasts over 5 million members and has successfully advocated for around 300 bills at both federal and state levels.
One of its most recent initiatives is pushing the Preserving Our Constitution Act of 2026 through Congress.
“This bill states that no Sharia courts can operate in the United States. We are constructing a firewall so that such a scenario does not occur,” Gabriel details.
Freitas expresses concern that the U.S. could follow in the footsteps of the U.K., where there are currently 84 Sharia courts. He emphasizes the importance of being proactive: “What Gabriel is discussing is not just a hypothetical situation; it’s something we need to prepare for. If we ignore it and they start winning cases, they could set up these courts all over without facing opposition.”
However, Gabriel reveals some unsettling news. “Sharia courts are already functioning within the U.S. The first one opened in Richardson, Texas, back in 1991. We’ve recorded 150 cases adjudicated under Sharia law in 23 states since then.”
She explains that this motivated her to work on the American Laws for American Courts bill in 2009, which asserts that “no law incompatible with the U.S. Constitution can be practiced in an American courtroom.”
“We managed to pass that law in 13 states,” she mentions.
“This is a struggle we’ve been engaged in for quite some time,” she adds.
