Muslim Senate candidate faces backlash for comparing sharia law to canon law
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El‑Sayed criticized for comparing Muslim sharia law to Catholic canon law during a Fox News interview. El‑Sayed said no one is pushing sharia or canon law onto others and that banning sharia preemptively targets Muslims. The remarks sparked backlash from commentators and highlighted tensions between religious freedom and anti‑sharia sentiment. El‑Sayed, an Egyptian‑American epidemiologist, will face Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the fall general election.
about 1 month ago
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El‑Sayed drew sharp criticism after a Fox News interview in which he likened the United States’ treatment of Muslim sharia law to the Catholic Church’s canon law, sparking a debate over religious freedom, legal pluralism, and his suitability for office. 1
Abdul El‑Sayed, an epidemiologist born in Michigan to Egyptian parents, won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan and would become the first Muslim and first Egyptian‑American senator if elected. 1
During a “Jesse Watters Primetime” interview on August 24, El‑Sayed responded to a question linking opposition to sharia with white supremacy by stating, “Nobody is trying to push sharia law on anyone else, just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else.” He argued that pre‑emptive bans on sharia target Muslims, who comprise about 1 % of the U.S. population. 1
Conservative commentator Michael Knowles mocked El‑Sayed’s analogy on X, while Kyle Shideler of the Center for Security Policy called the comparison “deliberately misleading,” noting that sharia contains provisions that conflict with U.S. law, such as certain marriage contracts. 1
The article explains that sharia law governs religious practice, family matters, financial transactions, and can influence civil governance in some Muslim‑majority nations. In contrast, canon law regulates only the internal affairs of the Catholic Church and does not serve as a civil code for non‑Catholics, who are expected to obey the secular laws of their country. 1
El‑Sayed is set to face Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the November general election for Michigan’s Senate seat. The controversy adds a new focal point to his campaign as voters assess his positions on religious liberty and legal pluralism. 1
How does the Catholic Church define the scope of canon law?
Canon law is the body of laws and norms established or recognized by competent ecclesiastical authority to order the life and mission of the Church and to govern its members. It is not merely an administrative rulebook: it serves the Church’s visible structure and her salvific mission.
Its ultimate purpose is the salvation of souls (salus animarum), which the Church identifies as the supreme law.
Canon law governs matters necessary for the Church’s life, including:
Thus, canon law concerns both the Church’s internal organization and the concrete conditions that allow the faithful to profess, celebrate, and live the Christian faith.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law applies specifically to the Latin Church; Canon 1 expressly states that its canons “regard only the Latin Church.”
Catholics become members of the Church through Baptism and thereby share, according to their state in life, in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal mission. The Church is visibly organized under the pope and bishops in communion with him.
The Eastern Catholic Churches are governed principally by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, together with their legitimate particular law, rather than by the Latin Code as such.
Canon law has both universal and particular scope:
Accordingly, canon law includes not only norms promulgated for the whole Latin Church but also laws issued by dioceses, episcopal conferences where competent, religious institutes, and other legitimate ecclesial authorities.
Canon law does not attempt to regulate every human action or replace civil law. Its proper competence is ecclesial: it regulates what belongs to the Church’s mission, governance, worship, discipline, and spiritual jurisdiction.
The Church has proper and exclusive jurisdiction over:
Civil laws may sometimes be recognized or applied in canonical matters—for example, in contracts or certain temporal affairs—provided they do not contradict divine law or canonical legislation.
Canon law includes human ecclesiastical legislation, but it operates within and under divine law, including natural law and the law revealed by Christ. Human canonical norms cannot abolish or contradict obligations arising from divine law.
Therefore, canon law is broader than disciplinary commands but narrower than morality as a whole: it gives juridical form to the Church’s visible life without replacing Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium, conscience, or the primacy of grace.
In summary, canon law extends to the persons, institutions, worship, governance, rights, duties, procedures, and spiritual mission of the Church—within the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical authority, ordered always toward ecclesial communion and the salvation of souls.