When Islam Is Not a Religion by Asma T. Uddin

Author:Asma T. Uddin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2019-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

“‘SHARIAH LAW DOES NOT APPLY’—BUT AMERICAN LAW DOES”

Eugene Volokh, Reason

When I look back at Duncan’s televised defense of the Save Our State Amendment, what I find most striking is the way he melded concerns about “liberal judges” and “political correctness” with fears about Muslims and sharia. In his view, liberal judges (and presumably liberals generally) are trying to undermine America’s founding principles, which he describes as “Judeo-Christian.” And apparently, Muslims are their partners in crime.

Duncan’s theory is not uncommon among Americans on the political right. Former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro has argued that liberals use Islamophobia as a political tool. In “Why the Left Protects Islam,” Shapiro argues: “the Left believes that the quickest way to destroy Western civilization is no longer class warfare but multicultural warfare: Simply ally with groups that hate the prevailing system and work with them to take it down. Then, the Left will build on the ashes of the old system.”

After the November 2018 midterm elections, Republican leaders in Texas’s Tarrant County wanted to remove the party vice chairman, Shahid Shafi, from his position simply because he was Muslim. They were moved to do this after a Democrat running for federal office (Beto O’Rourke) won Tarrant County for the first time in history. The Republican leaders were alarmed by O’Rourke’s win, lamenting that they had become “lax,” and then took it out on their one Muslim party member who they feared was “loyal” to Islamic law, without any evidence. The American Conservative summed up the county’s argument: “no Muslim should ever be a GOP leader, because sharia. That’s un-American.” In the end, Shafi survived the ouster after Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and even Senator Ted Cruz spoke out. In a rare (for him) defense of religious liberty for Muslims, Cruz tweeted: “Discrimination against Dr. Shafi b/c he’s Muslim is wrong. The Constitution prohibits any religious test for public office & the First Amendment protects religious liberty for every faith. The Party of Lincoln should welcome everybody & celebrate Liberty.” The fact remains, though, that Shafi’s position was on the line (and forty-nine party members voted to oust him) simply because of his religion.

These are just snippets of the manifold ways Muslims figure into the ongoing tension between conservatives and liberals. In chapter 8, I discuss these politics in more detail. What’s relevant here is how these politics ultimately weaken American law and generate distrust of the American legal system. While the targets may be liberals and Muslims, the results adversely affect all Americans.

Legal scholars have tried to depoliticize the debate. The prominent UCLA law professor, Eugene Volokh, has demonstrated that conservative values do not require measures like antisharia and antiforeign law statutes. In fact, he says, these types of laws create costs that “could be grave.” They don’t contribute anything new to American law, but they do get in the way of “routine matters applying existing American legal rules related to family law, contract law, tort law, evidence law, and the like.

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