Islamic leaders in South Florida have pushed back against Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's claims that tax-payer funded vouchers for private Islamic schools violate Florida law and pose a national security threat.
Writing on social media recently, Uthmeier said, "Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition."
Others in the all-Republican Florida cabinet, including Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, joined Uthmeier in questioning the legality of public dollars going to Islamic private schools.
The criticism came after it emerged a couple of Tampa-area Muslim schools accept voucher money.
Hifz Academy and Bayaan Academy have brought in $15,700,000 and $2,668,000, respectively, in voucher funds over the past decade, according to reporting by the Florida Phoenix.
Neither of the schools name Sharia law on their websites. WLRN has reached out for comment.
Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) October 27, 2025
The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security. https://t.co/s34sLMztGZ
Sharia law is Islam's moral code as outlined in the Quran. It guides worship practices, personal behavior and family principle, as well as some legal code integrated in Muslim-majority countries.
Azhar Subedar, the development director of the South Florida Muslim Federation, told WLRN the political focus on Sharia law is often misguided and misunderstood. It's not an extremist system, he said, it's to "teach us to be the best versions of humans that we can be for ourselves, thereby being better citizens."
"It's no-brainer that when you talk about America and the Constitution and being an American citizen, we already have a system of justice here," Subedar added, "and it cannot be overwritten by any other system."
Subedar is an Islamic scholar and spiritual leader who says he has taken on a mission to bring together multiple communities of faith for open dialogue and discussion, hoping to foster a deeper understanding, interfaith alliance and disarm fear.
Florida's Muslim schools were developed with the "understanding that we live in a beautiful country where everyone's coming together," Subedar said. "It's a melting pot, everyone's growing together."
Vouchers for religious private schools
Florida’s school choice programs were expanded in 2023, allowing any student, regardless of family income, to apply for vouchers for private schools. Previously, Florida law had income and disability requirements to be eligible for the funding.
As of this year, more than 2,000 private schools accept vouchers and 61% of private schools identified as religious, according to data from Step Up For Students, the largest scholarship funding organization in the state. Catholic schools are the single largest religious recipients.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has proudly regarded Florida as the state with the most religious freedom in the country and has supported legislation to support free practice in schools. In 2024, he signed a law establishing a statewide school chaplain program and authorized volunteer chaplains to be on school campuses. Previously he also supported legislation requiring teachers in first-period classrooms in each Florida public school to dedicated a couple of minutes for a moment of silence or prayer daily.
Subedar said Muslim families, like families of other faiths, also value a formal approach to religious teaching.
"It's imperative that they have an environment where this is being incorporated, where [religious values are] being reflected, where this is being shadowed constantly so that they can inculcate those qualities within themselves," he said.
"Plus, when it comes to the teaching, it's the same academic curriculum that the Florida school system has recommended to all schools within Florida, irrespective of it's private school or public school."
Khurrum Wahid, founder and national chairperson for Emgage Action, a nonprofit advocacy group for Muslim Americans, pointed to Republican lawmakers having long embraced religious freedom and vouchers for Christian schools.
"The top cop in the state of Florida, the top prosecutor in the state, is essentially saying that we are going to pick one religion to single out — to say, ‘No, you don't get the same protection as the other religions,'" Wahid, a practicing attorney, told WLRN.
Wahid said state officials and Americans must "maintain our responsibility to the United States Constitution" and accept the First Amendment applies to all religious practices.
Questioning Islamic schools for voucher use is not about following state law, he said in response to Uthmeier's recent comments that "the use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law."
"This is about bigotry and we have to start all calling it what it is," Wahid said.
The cabinet doesn't have the authority to divert state funding from to specific schools, the Department of Education does.
In 2023, DeSantis directed the education department to pull voucher funds from schools with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The DOE in 2003 suspended voucher funds for Tampa’s Islamic Academy of Florida after two men affiliated with the school were charged, and later convicted, with links to terrorism.
The Attorney General's office did not respond to an interview request.
Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingolia told the Florida Phoenix his office is considering auditing several Tampa-area Muslim schools.
" We'd love to host the attorney general," Subedar said. "Come and sit down and come and look at our schools and learn from us what's actually going on. I don't want anyone to live in a state of fear ... in your own state, in your own home."
