A Texas governor branded a planned Muslim community a "Sharia city" and moved to block its construction. The residents owned the land. Zoning was approved. Every document the Constitution requires was already in order. What followed was the latest chapter in a quiet, decade-long legal war over whether Islam even counts as a religion in the eyes of American law.
In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan with host Dr. Daisy Khan, religious liberty lawyer, author, and Michigan State University law professor Asma Uddin breaks down the specific legal and rhetorical strategy built to disqualify Islam from the protections every other American faith receives. Asma, who has argued cases at the United States Supreme Court and written When Islam is Not a Religion and The Politics of Vulnerability, traces the claim that only twelve percent of Islam qualifies as religion, walks through the two First Amendment clauses now being tested in Texas and beyond, and unpacks post-9/11 courtroom data showing Muslim claimants have been half as likely to prevail as their peers of other faiths. She also lays out the playbook for what American Muslims and their allies can do right now, including deep interfaith coalition building and showing up at zoning meetings where the real damage is done.
The conversation ends with a vision that may be the most radical thing an American Muslim can ask for. Not spectacular. Not symbolic. Just super ordinary.
This episode is part of The Muslim Women Project on WISE Women with Daisy Khan, featuring 100 Muslim women of authority shaping their destiny, community, and society at large. Listen to the full conversation, Like, Follow, and Share WISE Women with Daisy Khan wherever you get your podcasts.
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Author Bio:
Asma Uddin is an Assistant Professor of Law at Michigan State University, a religious liberty lawyer, and an author who has argued cases at the United States Supreme Court on behalf of religious communities across many faith traditions. She is the author of When Islam is Not a Religion: How a Faith Became a Political Category in American Law and Life, and The Politics of Vulnerability. Her work also spans the Aspen Institute, the Freedom Forum Institute, and a Substack on constitutional rights.
