SMFNews: Texas Bill Would Establish Muslim Heritage Day

Header photo: The Texas Capitol in Austin. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain).

AUSTIN, Texas — A bill filed in the Texas House on Nov. 9 would make Feb. 4 Muslim Heritage Day in Texas, recognizing the contributions of Muslim Americans to the state.

House Bill 236 was filed by State Rep. Suleman Lalani, who represents House District 76, which includes Sugar Land, Stafford, Richmond and Meadows Place. The two-section bill would add Muslim Heritage Day to the Texas Government Code and says the day may be regularly observed “by appropriate ceremonies and activities.” If passed, it would take effect Sept. 1, 2027.

— Texas House Bill 236, as filed Nov. 9, 2026

When the Legislature takes it up

Nov. 9 was the first day lawmakers could file bills for the 90th Texas Legislature, and more than 1,260 bills had been filed by that evening, the Texas Tribune reported. The Legislature convenes Jan. 12, 2027, and the bill-filing period ends March 12, according to the Tribune.

Bills filed before the session are referred to committee after lawmakers convene. A similar measure Lalani filed ahead of the last session, House Concurrent Resolution 18, which would have designated May as Muslim Heritage Month for 10 years, was filed on Nov. 12, 2024, and referred to the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee on March 5, 2025, where it remained, according to Texas Legislature Online.

The Texas House of Representatives chamber in the Capitol in Austin. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain)

Other measures filed the same day

Lalani also filed two bills on halal meals in public schools. House Bill 401 would require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to offer a student a halal option in any school breakfast or lunch program when the student or a parent asks for one. House Bill 426 would set the same requirement but only for districts and charter schools in counties with 2.1 million or more people, or in counties next to them. Both would apply starting with the 2027–2028 school year.

He also filed House Resolution 16, honoring the holy month of Ramadan in 2027. The resolution notes that Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of Feb. 7, 2027, and describes the month as a time of fasting, worship, reading the Quran, self-discipline and helping the less fortunate.

— Texas House Resolution 16, as filed Nov. 9, 2026

About the sponsor

Lalani’s official House biography describes him as a physician who has practiced in the Sugar Land and greater Houston area for nearly 30 years, and as the first South Asian and first Muslim member of the Texas Legislature. He was first elected in 2022.

Sources

Texas Legislature Online: HB 236 history and bill text; HB 401; HB 426; HR 16 history and text; HCR 18, 89th Legislature; Texas Tribune (Nov. 9, 2026); Texas House of Representatives, biography of Rep. Suleman Lalani.

SMFNews: Rights Groups Condemn Bahrain’s Largest Mass Trial of Shia Clerics

Header photo: Bab al-Bahrain gate in Manama, Bahrain. Photo: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted by SMF.

MANAMA, Bahrain — Twenty international and regional human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), have condemned a mass trial of Shia clerics in Bahrain, citing allegations of torture, coerced confessions and serious violations of the right to a fair trial. Middle East Eye described the case as the largest mass trial of Shia clerics in the country’s history.

The case before Bahrain’s High Criminal Court involves 69 defendants: 60 Shia clerics and nine others, including religious reciters known as radoods, according to the groups’ joint statement, published Nov. 6. Of the 56 defendants in custody, 47 are clerics. The other 13 clerics are being tried in absentia.

Verdict postponed to Nov. 22

The court had been expected to deliver its judgment on Sunday, Nov. 8. Instead, it postponed the verdict to Nov. 22, Alhurra reported, citing sources familiar with the case. Families of the defendants and human rights activists were barred from the courtroom during Sunday’s hearing, according to the same report.

The charges

According to the joint statement, the charges include establishing “a terrorist group” to overthrow the “constitutional regime” and promoting a religious-political doctrine “by controlling mosques and local religious gatherings.” The statement says authorities have also accused the detainees, in official Instagram statements, of operating an unlawful organization and financing terrorism, and that one detainee is charged with espionage. Prosecutors also allege foreign links, which the clerics’ relatives and lawyers deny, Reuters reported.

The rights groups say the evidence presented includes religious teaching, books, khums (the religious tax in the Shia faith), charitable funds and foreign religious contacts. Using such material as criminal evidence “risks conflating religious identity, political allegiance and individual criminal responsibility,” the statement says.

Bahraini officials reject the claim that the crackdown targets people for their faith. Lt. Gen. Tariq Al Hassan, head of Bahrain’s Public Security agency, told Reuters that Bahrain does not target its Shia citizens, “most of whom are law-abiding and loyal citizens.”

— Joint statement by 20 human rights groups, Nov. 6, 2026

Allegations of torture and coerced confessions

BIRD says it has obtained firsthand accounts from detainees describing abuse that may amount to torture. According to the joint statement, defendants first held at the Criminal Investigation Directorate reported forced standing, prolonged blindfolding and handcuffing, sleep deprivation, and threats of physical and sexual violence against themselves and their families, as well as threats of citizenship revocation and deportation. Some, the groups say, were held incommunicado at undisclosed locations.

The statement details two cases. Sheikh Mohammed Saeed Al-Taitoon, 62, reported being blindfolded and restrained for a week and forced to stand despite severe urinary bleeding and kidney stones, while being denied necessary surgery. Sayed Moosa Jawad Alwedaie, 57, told investigators he had been threatened with beatings, electric shocks, being stripped naked and the rape of his daughter. Bahrain’s Special Investigation Unit, which falls under the Public Prosecution, dismissed both complaints, according to BIRD.

The groups also say defense lawyers were not allowed to copy the case files and had to rely on handwritten notes, that defendants in custody could take part only by video link, and that identical passages appear in different defendants’ purported confessions. When lawyers asked for recordings of the interrogations, they were told the footage had been deleted after one month.

BIRD’s advocacy director, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, called the trial an “attack on the faith and identity of Bahrain’s Shia community.”

— Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Nov. 6, 2026

What the rights groups are asking

The 20 organizations are calling on Bahrain to guarantee fair trials with full access to evidence and independent trial monitoring, to make sure no conviction rests on evidence obtained through torture, and to investigate the allegations of torture, enforced disappearance and coerced confessions. They also want those responsible held to account, including security officials and prosecutors.

— Joint statement by 20 human rights groups, recommendations to the Bahraini authorities, Nov. 6, 2026

The statement warns that removing the clerics from their congregations “disrupts religious leadership, teaching and communal worship, and sends an intimidating message to the wider Shia community.”

A wider crackdown

Between May and June, Bahraini authorities arrested more than 50 clerics and religious orators, Reuters reported. Bahrain has also stripped 69 citizens of their citizenship. Critics, including rights groups, told Reuters the arrests and citizenship revocations are a new blow to free speech and religious freedom in a country that crushed pro-democracy protests in 2011.

SMF reported last month on separate arrests of Shia preachers and reciters in Bahrain.

Sources

Joint statement by 20 human rights groups via Human Rights Watch (Nov. 6, 2026); Amnesty International; Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy; Middle East Eye (Nov. 6, 2026); Alhurra (Nov. 8, 2026); Reuters, report by Timour Azhari from Manama (Nov. 6, 2026).

SMFNews: Connecticut’s First Muslim State Representative Wins a Senate Seat

Header photo: The Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford at sunset. Photo: Paul Danese (CC0).

HARTFORD, Conn. — State Rep. Maryam Khan, the first Muslim member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, has won a seat in the state Senate, FOX61 reported. Khan won the 2nd State Senate District on Nov. 3, defeating Timothy Knotts, an educator and lawyer.

Khan received 23,804 votes (85%) to 4,303 (15%) for Knotts, according to provisional results compiled by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. The results are provisional until they are certified by the state. The district includes parts of Bloomfield, Hartford and Windsor.

A first in the Connecticut House

Born in Pakistan, Khan won a March 2022 special election to represent the 5th House District, becoming the first Muslim member of the Connecticut House, and was reelected that November, FOX61 reported. She went on to serve as House chair of the Select Committee on Special Education and as a member of the Appropriations, Education and Judiciary committees.

Khan, a special education teacher, has worked to direct resources toward special education and to secure more funding for schools in her district, according to FOX61 and CT News Junkie. FOX61 reported that she has also promoted bills on victim safety and protection.

The Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford, where the General Assembly meets. Photo: Shah Ronak S (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The road to the Senate

Khan won the district’s August primary, defeating incumbent Sen. Doug McCrory and Windsor Board of Education Chair Ayana Taylor, CT News Junkie reported. In her victory speech that night in Hartford, she said voters had responded to a campaign built on schools and safety.

— Maryam Khan, after winning the 2nd Senate District primary, Aug. 11, 2026, via CT News Junkie

Khan told CT News Junkie that families she met while campaigning wanted strong public schools for every child. “In all of the doors that I’ve ever knocked in this district, not one time did I hear a family say that they want more choices for schools,” she said.

— Maryam Khan, Aug. 11, 2026, via CT News Junkie

Khan’s win is one of several by Muslim Americans in state legislative races this year. For more results, see SMF News’ roundup of Muslim candidates who won state and local offices. SMF News does not endorse any party or candidate.

Sources

FOX61 (updated Nov. 4, 2026); Connecticut Business & Industry Association, 2026 state Senate results (Nov. 4, 2026); CT News Junkie (Aug. 11, 2026); SMF News, Nov. 6 state and local results roundup.