16 States Ban or Restrict Shariah Law

Any time a state wants to ban Shariah law from being used within its boundaries, Muslim groups — usually led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) cry Islamophobia. Which usually leads to the question, if the groups weren’t in favor of Shariah law, why would they mind it being banned?

Never mind the fact that Shariah law has already been used in American courtrooms. Groups like CAIR will always insist that such legislation is Islamophobic and needs to be stopped.

Alabama became the latest state to ban Shariah law when voters passed a measure adding an amendment to the state constitution. CAIR said that the motion was “virulently racist” and “outright hostility towards Muslims.” Alabamans apparently didn’t care what they said.

Either way, Shariah doesn’t exactly have a good brand image. Perhaps it’s the pre-16th century vibe that the stoning of women and chopping off of hands creates.

Perhaps it’s the fact that Shariah has been used in American courtrooms — specifically in Florida, where a judge allowed Muslim law to supersede American law in a dispute over mosque funds.

Or perhaps it’s because voters don’t want America to become like a version of the United Kingdom, where roving “Shariah patrols” bully people they feel aren’t sufficiently Islamic.

A member of one of these patrols said in a video posted to YouTube, “Ultimately, I want to see every single woman in this country covered from head to toe, I want to see the hand of the thief cut, I want to see adulterers stoned to death.”

16 states introduced legislation to ban or restrict Shariah law in 2013. The list is supposed to be meant as a condemnation of these states.

However, I know plenty of people who would use such a list as a guide for where to move.

The states are:

·         Alabama (two bills)

·         Arkansas

·         Florida (two bills)

·         Indiana (two bills)

·         Iowa

·         Kentucky

·         Mississippi (four bills)

·         Missouri (two bills)

·         North Carolina

·         Oklahoma (seven bills)

·         South Carolina (two bills)

·         Texas (six bills)

·         Virginia

·         Washington

·         West Virginia

·         Wyoming (two bills)