Free fact sheet · Updated November 2026
Sharia in America: What’s True
No court or city in the United States runs on sharia. The best-known claims trace back to satire or to statements no one could support. Here is where they came from, and what the record shows.
The claims and the record
| The claim | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| “Dearborn, Michigan voted to adopt sharia law.” | This began as a 2013 satire article from the National Report. The city answered that it has never been under sharia and never will be, and is governed by the US and Michigan constitutions and its city charter. Sources: Yahoo News / The Atlantic Wire; HuffPost |
| “Judges in Dearborn use sharia.” | PolitiFact rated this False in 2011. A local attorney said no Dearborn court uses sharia in any way. Source: PolitiFact |
| “Trump fired a Muslim judge for imposing sharia.” | A hoax built on satire sites. The judge did not exist. Source: Washington Examiner |
| “Sharia is being imposed somewhere in the US.” | Reporting in 2026 found no known effort at the local, state or federal level to impose Islamic law. Source: The National |
| “Dearborn is under sharia” (2026 campaign claim). | A candidate for governor repeated the claim in 2026. CBS Detroit reported it as false. Source: CBS Detroit |
What “sharia” means
The word means “the way.” For most Muslims it is guidance for daily life: prayer, fasting, charity, diet, family and business. It is not one written code, and Muslim scholars and schools disagree on how to apply it. That is a little like the way Orthodox Jews keep kosher, or Christians tithe.
Three words worth keeping apart
- Islam is a religion, practiced by nearly two billion people.
- Muslim describes a person who follows Islam. Most practice their faith at home, in prayer, and in how they try to live.
- Islamist is a political word, for people and movements that want the government to enforce Islamic law on everyone. Many Muslims oppose them, and many have fled them.
In fairness to the other side
People who support state “sharia bans” say they want US courts never to defer to foreign or religious law that conflicts with constitutional rights. That is a real concern, and worth taking seriously. The First Amendment already bars any state religion, and no US court applies sharia over US law.
A Christian witness
Southern Baptist pastors in Dearborn have said the sharia rumors hurt their outreach to their Muslim neighbors. Source: Baptist Press
Before you share a post
- Find the original source. Is it a news outlet, a court record, or a satire site?
- Check a fact-checker such as PolitiFact.
- Ask a Muslim neighbor what their faith means to them.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”Ephesians 4:15 (ESV)
From the research for What About Islam and Sharia?, Book 1 of Afraid? Here Are the Facts. Free to share and print. © 2026 Kodu Press · kodupress.com
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