1) Feisal Abdul Rauf, sponsor of the Cordoba Initiative, writes about Shari’a law in a Washington Post article, Five Myths about Muslims in America — saying, “Muslims already practice sharia in the United States when they worship freely and follow U.S. laws.”
2) Editor David Rossman offers his opinion that banning Shari’a law is fearmongering and unconstitutional. Rossman specifies House Joint Resolution 31, which proposes to prohibit Missouri courts from using Sharia or international law, as being unnecessary and possibly a federally unconstitutional amendment to Missouri’s constitution.
3) The Middle East Online reports that Shari’a Law is already in America. In this satire regarding the recent movement to ban Shari’a law in 13 States, Hesham A. Hassaballa chronicles a typical day in the life of an American Muslim:
The staff at the office are having a catered lunch that day — pizza — and “Muhammad” goes for the veggie pizza because all the other pizzas contain pork [Sharia]. After finishing his pizza, he prays the Noon prayer at his desk [Sharia] and then gets back to work on his projects [Sharia]. He calls home to check on his wife, who was not feeling very well that day [Sharia], and prays that she feels better [Sharia] and tells her he loves her very much [Sharia].
4) Gregory R. Ball, a Putnam County, NY Republican has scheduled a daylong hearing for April 8 on terrorism preparedness in New York City. The New York Times reports that Mr. Ball plans to take testimony on the threat from radical Islam — drawing criticism from Muslim and interfaith groups who are call the hearing anti-Muslim.
Among the witnesses whose scheduled testimony has raised objections is Nonie Darwish, an Egyptian-born American who is president of a group called Former Muslims United. Mr. Ball said Ms. Darwish would testify about Shariah law and “being taught to hate Israelis and Americans” in Islamic schools she attended in Egypt.
5) From the Minnesota Independent: Potential presidential contender Herman Cain told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that he wouldn’t allow Muslims to serve in his administration and that, because Rep. Keith Ellison took his oath of office on the Qur’an instead of the Bible, he supports Sharia law above the Constitution. Cain, a Republican, said that American law is based on the Bible.
6) The National, an English-language publication in the United Arab Emirates, reports that a senior judge has responded to criticisms made by Amnesty International, regarding death sentences imposed under Shari’a law. Last week, Amnesty’s report on world-wide capital punishments in 2010, identified that 28 people were sentenced to death in the Emirates last year. A judge at the Federal Supreme Court argues that under Article 1 of the penal code, certain offences including murder, sex outside of wedlock, drugs, theft and alcohol must be tried under Sharia — and that murder and drug trafficking offences can bring the death penalty.
7) David Weigel goes behind the scenes on Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern’s Senate Bill, HR 1552, which was drafted specifically to remove references to Shari’a law and ban “any law, rule, legal code or system” not rooted in the Constitution of Oklahoma or the United States.
8) Alaska Republican Rep. Carl Gatto called Pamela Geller, an anti-Muslim blogger, to testify as an expert witness on Islam and Shari’a in the House Judiciary Committee. According to Anchorage Daily News, “Gatto’s proposal, House Bill 88, says Alaska courts can’t apply foreign law if it would violate an individual’s rights guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States or the state of Alaska.” Gatto is quoted as saying:
I’m more concerned about cultures that are vastly different from European immigrants, who come here and prefer to maintain their specific laws from their previous countries, which are in violent conflict with American law.