New York, March 02: The US state of Tennessee is considering making it a felony to follow some versions of the Islamic code known as Sharia, the most severe measure yet put forth by a national movement whose members believe extremist Muslims want Sharia to supersede the Constitution.
The bill would face steep constitutional hurdles if enacted.
Nevertheless, it represents the boldest legislative attempt yet to limit how Muslims worship.
Backers of the bill include conservatives with ties to opponents of a planned Islamic centre two blocks from New York City’s World Trade Center site and efforts to expand a mosque 48km southeast of Nashville.
Muslim groups fear the measure would outlaw central tenets of Islam, such as praying five times a day toward Mecca, abstaining from alcohol and fasting for Ramadan.
“This is an anti-Muslim bill that makes it illegal to be a Muslim in the state of Tennessee,” said Remziya Suleyman, policy coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
The coalition was among several civil rights and interfaith groups that held a news conference Tuesday to oppose the proposal.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Bill Ketron, said the proposal exempts the peaceful practice of Islam but seeks to condemn those “who take Sharia law to the other extreme”.
He said it would give state and local law enforcement officials “a powerful counterterrorism tool.”
Mr Ketron, who has successfully pushed through bills tightening restrictions on illegal immigrants, said he expects the Sharia measure will become law.
For now, supporters of the measure are working to bolster it against any constitutional challenges, which may be an impossible task, said First Amendment Center scholar Charles Haynes, who called it a “really distorted understanding of Sharia law.”
“Trying to separate out different parts of Islamic law for condemnation is nonsensical,” he said.
“Sharia law, like all religious law, is interpreted in a great many different ways.”
Sharia is a set of core principles that most Muslims recognise as well as a series of rulings from religious scholars. It covers many areas of life, and different sects have different versions of the code they follow.
At least 13 states have bills pending that would bar judges from considering Shariah in legal decisions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but none of those proposals is as strict as what Tennessee is weighing.
If the law is passed in Tennessee, it could face a legal challenge.
——–Agencies