Jacksonville School Board Member Under Fire for Repeating What the Leading Islamic Textbook Teaches

A Duval County school board member is under pressure to resign for sharing a post that said Islam is not a religion. The irony: the leading Islamic textbook in America says the same thing in Lesson 1, then spends the rest of the textbook describing Islam as a nation.

What Happened

On Sunday, November 1, 2026, Duval County School Board member Tony Ricardo shared a Facebook post that called Islam “an invasive political cult,” said “we got lost in the myth that Islam is a religion” and said “the Quran is instructions for jihad.” Within two days, CAIR Florida demanded he “immediately resign,” and the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville’s largest mosque, joined the call.

The charge is that he said something so hateful he is unfit to serve. That charge can be tested against the leading Islamic textbook used in American Islamic schools. Here is what it says, page by page.

The Textbook

What Islam Is All About, by Yahiya Emerick, is one of the most widely used Islamic studies textbooks in America. Written for grades 7 through 12 and in print since 1997, it is taught in full-time Islamic schools, weekend mosque schools and adult classes. The Islamic Circle of North America says its local chapters use it in their youth programs. We compared two printings, 2008 and 2025. Every quotation below is the textbook’s own wording, with page numbers, so anyone can check it.

This textbook has been condemned before. In 2003 a New York Daily News investigation found it teaching that Jews “subscribe to a belief in racial superiority” and that Christians “worship statues.” Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it “disgraceful.” Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler said Islamic schools were “teaching hatred.” No one called them bigots.

The Case in Brief

1. A board member said Islam is not a religion.
2. Lesson 1 of the leading Islamic textbook says the same thing, and the rest of the textbook teaches a nation, a government, a supreme law, a tax system and a doctrine of war.
3. Every one of those teachings comes straight from the Qur’an, the hadith and the classical law books.
4. The Muslim Brotherhood’s own 1991 plan for America, its “grand Jihad,” states the same goals and names ISNA and NAIT as its organizations.
5. The loudest demand that he resign comes from CAIR, which the State of Florida now designates as a terrorist organization, alongside the Muslim Brotherhood.
6. Most importantly: a Muslim government, the United Arab Emirates, put CAIR on a terrorist list in 2014, in addition to the States of Florida and Texas.

Lesson 1: “Islam is not a religion”

The first lesson asks: “What is Islam?” In the 2008 printing, the answer on page 2 begins: “Islam is not a religion.” That is the board member’s post, almost word for word. He didn’t invent it. He repeated the first lesson of a textbook used to teach Muslim children.

The 2025 printing softens one word. Page 120: “Islam is not only a religion but a lifestyle.” Then it asks students: “What sets a lifestyle apart from mere religion?” Mere religion. In this textbook, religion is the smaller part.

A Complete System, with the Shari’ah as its Constitution

The textbook calls Islam “a complete way of life” (2008, p. 2) and renders the Arabic word Deen, usually translated “religion,” as “lifestyle” (p. 354). In Islamic law, Deen is a complete system of life, and the Shari’ah is its constitution: the supreme law above every ruler, council and court. The standard Shafi’i law manual, Reliance of the Traveller, moves from prayer and fasting to finance, family law, criminal punishments, courts, jihad and the caliphate. That is the outline of a state.

A Nation Meant to Dominate

Unit 14 is titled “Islam Becomes a Nation.” Page 378 tells students: “We cannot hope to build an Islamic nation again on the backs of people who are hypocrites,” and a dedicated generation “will be able to make Islam dominant in the earth.” The 2025 printing: Islam is “the way of life that Allah will make prevail over all other ways of life” (p. 61), and “Muslims dream of establishing the power of Islam in the world” (p. 369).

A Government on Paper

Page 371 (2025): “There is no separation of masjid and state, because the goal of the Islamic state is the establishment of the Deen of Allah.” Then a chart titled “Basics of an Islamic Government” lays out three branches that mirror ours: a Khalifa as executive, a Shura Council as the representative branch and a Qadi as the judiciary. Every branch requires the Shari’ah.

“Basics of an Islamic Government,” What Islam Is All About (2025 printing). Every branch bound to the Shari’ah.

The Law of the Land, and the Conflict With Ours

Page 368: “The law of the land is the Shari’ah of Allah.” Elected councils may legislate only on minor or modern matters, like “speed limits on the roads or immigration laws.” Everything else, including the law of jihad, hijrah and warfare, is “eternal Islamic principles that must remain unchanged” (2008, pp. 381–382). The head of state must be “Muslim, male, over 40.”

In Islamic law only Allah legislates: “The judgment is for none but Allah” (Qur’an 12:40). Man-made law is shirk, the gravest sin. That puts the Shari’ah in natural conflict with our Constitution, which Article VI makes “the supreme Law of the Land.” Two constitutions cannot both be supreme.

Taxes, Two Classes and One Allegiance

Page 155 (2025): “Zakah should be paid to the Islamic government.” Page 159 hands students a “Sample Zakah Calculation Sheet”: bank balance, stocks, real estate income, gold and silver, then “Multiply line 7 by 0.025.” That’s not a donation. That’s a tax return.

Non-Muslims are “called Dhimmis” and “pay their taxes (Jizyah)” (2008, p. 382). And “the duty of Muslim citizens is to be loyal to the Islamic State,” under a leader of “the whole Ummah, not just of one country.” Taxes, two classes of citizen, allegiance across borders: that is a state.

A Doctrine of War

A diagram on page 51 (2008) lists three duties for every Muslim: da’wah (calling others to Islam), jihad, and enjoining good. It warns that “any person who is following one part of Islam and leaving off another is not being a true Muslim.” Page 164 says jihad “can be applied to the act of fighting as well,” that “if a real Jihad was declared, then we, as Muslims, must obey,” and that “if anyone dies in a Jihad they automatically will go to Paradise.” Islamic law agrees: Reliance of the Traveller defines jihad as “warfare to establish the religion” (o9.0).

Why Speaking out Makes You the Target

Page 164 gives three reasons to start a physical jihad. Number three: “To remove any barrier to the free flow of Islamic da’wah.” The textbook’s example is a country that forbids Islam’s preaching: “Obviously they are wrong-doers and are attempting to stop the truth from being preached.”

The trigger, in plain terms. Da’wah is the mission. Standing against it, even something as simple as publicly opposing what is being preached, is a “barrier to da’wah,” and removing that barrier is one of only three reasons the textbook gives for war.

By that definition, the board member’s post, and every American who defends him, is the barrier. That is why the answer to his post was not an argument but a demand that he be removed.

Who is Asking for the Resignation

The loudest demand came from CAIR Florida. On November 5, 2026, Florida’s designation of CAIR as a terrorist organization took effect; Texas designated CAIR in 2025, and the UAE in 2014. In the Holy Land Foundation trial, where the charity was convicted of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas, CAIR, ISNA and NAIT were named unindicted co-conspirators, and Judge Jorge Solis found “ample evidence” of their associations with Hamas. The mosque that joined the call lists on its Board of Trustees Parvez Ahmed, CAIR’s national chairman from 2005 to 2008.

The Bottom Line

Tony Ricardo is being punished for accurately describing what three sources all say: the leading Islamic textbook used in American Islamic schools, the authoritative classical texts of Islamic law, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s own plan for America. If his words are hate speech, so is Lesson 1 of the textbook. If they are not, there is no basis to remove him. In America we answer speech with speech, and the voters decide who serves.

What you can do: Call or email the Duval County School Board, Superintendent Christopher Bernier and Mayor Donna Deegan, and ask them to reject the calls for Tony Ricardo’s resignation. Show up and speak in his support. Then read the textbook for yourself, and share this article with parents, neighbors, school boards, educators and churches.

Take Action

©2026 Randy McDaniels. All rights reserved.

Sources: Yahiya Emerick, What Islam Is All About (2008 and 2025 printings); Reliance of the Traveller; Mohamed Akram, “An Explanatory Memorandum” (1991), U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation; Judge Jorge Solis, Memorandum Opinion and Order (2009); New York Daily News (2003); WAM, UAE terrorist list (2014); ICNEF leadership page; ICNA, The Message International (2026).