- CAIR also releases “Sharia in American Life” factsheet to correct misinformation and highlight shared American values
- Anti-Sharia bills Introduced by anti-Muslim lawmakers Tuberville, Fine, and Roy revive discredited fear campaigns
- CAIR: Unconstitutional bills would not survive legal scrutiny and are part of an ‘Israel-First’ agenda to sow fear about American Muslims
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced that it has distributed a formal congressional briefing memo “Weaponized Islamophobia: The Return of the Anti-Sharia Hoax,” to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, along with a companion educational document titled “Sharia in American Life.”
CLICK HERE: READ CAIR’s CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING MEMO
CLICK HERE: READ CAIR’s EDUCATIONAL FACTSHEET ON “SHARIA IN AMERICAN LIFE”
Together, these new resources dispel misinformation about Sharia, explain its role as a moral and spiritual framework for millions of American Muslims, and expose how so-called “anti-Sharia” legislation is being used as a political weapon to inflame prejudice and attempt to silence Muslim voices calling for an end to U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and apartheid in the West Bank.
The briefing warns lawmakers about several new “anti-Sharia” bills – including H.R. 5512 and S. 3008 (No Shari’a Act), H.R. 5722 and S. 3009 (Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act) – are unconstitutional, legally indefensible, and rooted in misinformation.
These measures, introduced or supported by Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), echo the discredited model legislation once promoted by anti-Muslim ideologue David Yerushalmi, author of the “American Laws for American Courts” template widely condemned by legal scholars and civil-rights organizations. CAIR notes that Senator Tuberville and Representatives Fine and Roy habitually engage in anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw, who authored the briefing memo, said:
“Senator Tommy Tuberville and Representatives Randy Fine and Chip Roy are not protecting the Constitution; they are betraying it. Manufacturing panic about Islam and American Muslims does nothing to defend our democracy; it only erodes it.
“These unconstitutional proposals exist not to solve any real problem, but to sow fear – to make Americans talk fearfully about Muslims and their beliefs rather than listen to what Muslims are saying about Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its apartheid in the West Bank. This ‘Israel-first’ fear campaign is meant to distract the public from mass atrocities abroad by scapegoating Muslims at home. But it will fail.
“Sharia is not a foreign legal system to be banned, it is a moral and spiritual path that calls on American Muslims to pray, give charity, treat others honestly, and stand up for what is right. In practice, it teaches humanity integrity, compassion, and service. Trying to ban ‘Sharia’ would be no different than banning Jewish halacha or Catholic canon law, it is a direct assault on religious freedom itself.
“Congress must defend the right of every faith community to live free from government suspicion or coercion. The path forward is simple: replace fear with understanding, hate with engagement, and ensure that religious liberty remains a promise kept for all.”
CAIR’s memo cites a Drop Site News investigation revealing that the Israeli Foreign Ministry recently conducted a global public opinion survey showing widespread opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza. Support for Israel rebounded by nearly 20 points when respondents were exposed to fear-based messaging about “Radical Islam” – a finding CAIR says exposes the real motive behind these bills: to weaponize Islamophobia as part of an Israel-first strategy that shifts public discourse from Israeli war crimes abroad to suspicion of Muslims at home.
Overview of the Bills and Why They Are Unconstitutional
H.R. 5512 and S. 3008 – “No Shari’a Act:” Sponsored by Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), these bills recycle the discredited “American Laws for American Courts” model used a decade ago to vilify Muslims. They seek to bar the application of undefined “foreign” or “religious” laws – explicitly naming Sharia – in U.S. courts.
CAIR’s memo notes that these measures are redundant and unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Similar state-level laws were struck down in CAIR’s Awad v. Ziriax (2012), when a federal court ruled that Oklahoma’s “Save Our State” anti-Sharia amendment discriminated against Muslims and had no secular purpose.
H.R. 5722 and S. 3009 – “Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act:” Introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), these bills would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to deny entry, revoke visas, and strip lawful status from anyone deemed to “adhere to” or “advocate for” Sharia law.
CAIR warns that the legislation would create a de facto religious test for immigration, granting the government unchecked authority to deport or exclude Muslims based solely on faith. The measures blatantly violate the First and Fifth Amendments and contravene the nondiscrimination principles codified in INA §1152(a)(1)(A), which bars immigration decisions based on race, nationality, or place of birth, protections enacted to prevent precisely this kind of government-sanctioned bias.
CAIR’s materials emphasize that “Sharia,” an Arabic word meaning “the way to water,” refers to a personal moral and spiritual framework guiding Muslims in prayer, charity, fasting, honesty, family life, and ethical conduct – not a parallel legal system. CAIR’s memo notes that none of these proposed anti-Muslim measures even attempts to define “Sharia.” That omission is not accidental; it reflects the ignorance and political opportunism driving these proposals.
History Repeats Itself: Congress Already Rejected the “Anti-Sharia” Hoax in 2011
CAIR’s briefing also references the 2011 House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution hearing on “Judicial Reliance on Foreign Law,” which reviewed former Florida Republican Repesentative Sandy Adams’s H.R. 973, an earlier version of the same “anti-Sharia / anti-foreign law” concept. At that hearing, both Republican and Democratic witnesses, including scholars from the Heritage Foundation, Tufts University, and George Mason University, agreed the proposal was symbolic, unnecessary, and constitutionally suspect, warning that it threatened judicial independence.
CAIR will continue to urge members of Congress to meet with Muslim constituents, visit mosques, and reject any legislation that undermines the Constitution or weaponizes faith as a political tool.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com