A Christian Iranian-American who says he survived life under Sharia law brought the room to life during a public meeting in Texas when he delivered a blistering warning about allowing Islamic influence to take root in the United States. Edwin Isagholi, who was born in Iran but became a Christian, told the crowd that Americans should pay attention to people who have actually lived under Sharia law. He warned that Christians in the West are making the same mistake that he believes previous Christian populations made by failing to take the threat seriously until it was too late.
“Hello, my name is Edwin. I’m a Sharia law survivor from Iran, and I’m here to tell you this is a dangerous ideology around in your country,” he said. He argued that historically Christian societies had been transformed after allowing Islamic influence to grow, telling the audience, “We were soft Christians, and we allowed these people to come in, bring their Sharia law into their countries and slowly kill us off left and right.”
He then drew a distinction between Christianity and Islam’s relationship to political authority. Quoting Christ’s instruction to “Render unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s” Isagholi described Christianity as a personal relationship with God while asserting that Islam combines religion with governmental authority. “Islam is Sharia law, din wa dawla, religion and state, which is not even compatible with the American thing,” he said.
Isagholi has made similar arguments elsewhere in North Texas. The Dallas Express reported in July that Isagholi spoke outside an Islamic Association of Collin County event in Plano, arguing that danger comes when Muslims acquire political power. “Islam becomes offensive the minute it takes power,” he told the outlet, pointing specifically to blasphemy and apostasy laws in Iran.
He argued that such political influence develops in stages, accusing Islamic activists of using “taqiya” to mislead Westerners about their intentions when their numbers and political power remain limited. “Whenever Islam is little, they will lie to you and tell you they come in peace. This is level one,” he said. He then pointed across the Atlantic for what he described as the next stage, saying, “Level two is what’s happening in UK right now, where you have two-tier policing.”
Isagholi also pushed back against treating criticism of Islam as racial hostility. “First of all, Islam is not a race, so any time you criticize Islam, they will use the race card,” he said. He went on to describe “Islamophobia” as a term used to discourage criticism of the religion and referenced Canada’s M-103, a 2017 parliamentary motion that called on the Canadian government to condemn Islamophobia.
Watch Isagholi speak out against Sharia Law here:
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The Iranian-born Christian then shifted to Muslims who attempt to leave the faith, arguing that they can become victims of the system themselves. “The worst people that are trapped in it is Muslims themselves because they can’t leave that death cult.”
He said people who question Islamic teaching can be branded “kufar,” or unbelievers, before pointing to people he described as friends and apostates who are imprisoned or dead in Iran. “I’m telling you this is a bad idea,” Isagholi said as he finished his warning, “and you’re gonna regret not listening to people like us who lived under Sharia law.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.