Texas designates Muslim Brotherhood and Cair as foreign terrorist organisations

Governor says the two, also classed as transnational criminal groups, aim to 'forcibly impose Sharia'

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announces his re-election campaign in Houston, on November 9. Houston Chronicle via AP

The US state of Texas on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organisations.

Governor Greg Abbott said in a post on X that the action bans the groups from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorises the Attorney General to sue to shut them down.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and Cair have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world',” Mr Abbott said in a media release.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s, and is the largest global Islamist organisation. Several countries already consider the Brotherhood to be a terrorist group, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia.

Cair is a Washington-based Muslim civil rights organisation founded in 1994. It operates chapters across the US.

In his proclamation, Mr Abbott named Cair as a “co-conspirator in one of the largest successful prosecutions of terrorism financing in United States history”. Last year, Cair filed a lawsuit against him over his actions against pro-Palestinian student groups and critics of Israel on Texas university campuses.

The move will apply at the state level, as only the secretary of state can issue designations of foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organisations. It carries no federal immigration consequences, asset freezes or criminal penalties that accompany designations at the federal level.

In a statement, Cair called Mr Abbott “an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government."

“H”s top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas,” the group said, adding it was ready to sue the Governor if necessary.

In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a terrorist designation for parts of the Brotherhood was “in the works”.

Mr Abbott announced this month that he was making his fourth run for governor, and the designation could be seen as a way to cement his standing among Maga [Make America Great Again] Republicans.

The announcement comes as conservative figures have been pushing for a federal designation of the Muslim Brotherhood. In July, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill to designate the group. Legislation had previously been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Far-right commentator Laura Loomer, believed to be a close adviser to President Donald Trump, has frequently spoken in favour of designating the Muslim Brotherhood and sued Cair in 2018 for getting her account removed from X. She lost the case in 2021.

It also comes after months of online vitriol against a proposed Muslim-centred community in northern Texas, with critics saying organisers were aiming to elevate Sharia as the law in the area and discriminate against people of other faiths.

The “Meadows” community – originally called Epic City in an abbreviation of the East Plano Islamic Centre – was first proposed in November last year. It would include a mosque, single and multi-family homes, a K-12 faith-based school and senior housing, as well as an outreach centre, commercial developments, sports facilities and a community college.

Mr Abbott signed a law in September that banned the establishment of “Sharia compounds” in Texas.

“One of the issues at stake is the freedom of religion,” Mr Abbott said at the time. “The fact is, religious freedom is a central part of the Texas Constitution. But bad actors like Epic and Epic City tried to use religion as a form of segregation.”