Critics argue that such legislation is based on anti-Islamic paranoia, noting that the US Constitution forbids the imposition of Shariah law — or any religious law — on anyone in this country and that Muslims make up only one percent of the American population and would have no ability to impose Shariah even if they did have a desire to do so.

Shariah is a set of rules that govern personal conduct, family relationship and religious practices for Muslims.

But this has not stopped State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Michigan, who has just proposed such anti-Shariah legislation which Muslim leaders there say is an attack on Islam.

In June, Agema proposed legislation that would ban the implementation of foreign laws. While the language of the proposal does not say it directly, it would ban Shariah or Islamic law. Agema told the Detroit News that the law is intended to preserve American laws.

“No foreign law shall supersede federal laws or constitution or state laws or constitution,” Agema said. “Our law is our law. I don’t like foreign entities telling us what to do.”

Under Agema’s proposed legislation, Shariah law would not be recognized in Michigan courts.

Many in the Muslim community believe he is directly attacking their religious beliefs and lifestyle.

“Agema … is a reflection of a segment of the Republican Party that is openly xenophobic and Islamophobic,” Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter, told reporters.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, told journalists she plans to speak out about the bill and Victor Begg, a prominent Republican and co-founder of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, called the bill “appalling.”

“Some in our party find it politically opportune to target my faith by sponsoring an innocuous sounding bill, knowing well that their intent is so-called ‘creeping Sharia,’” Begg told reporters.

Agema rejected the criticism: “If anybody has a problem with this that means they don’t agree with US laws,” he said. “If they don’t want it passed then they have an ulterior agenda. It shows the people accusing me of that (bigotry) are guilty of it themselves.”

A surprise critic of the anti-Shariah rhetoric has become one of the most eloquent:

“The threat of the infiltration of Shariah, or Islamic law, into the American court system is one of the more pernicious conspiracy theories to gain traction in our country in recent years. The notion that Islam is insidiously making inroads in the United States through the application of religious law is seeping into the mainstream, with even some presidential candidates voicing fears about the supposed threat of Shariah to our way of life…”

Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the (Jewish) Anti-Defamation League, wrote last week in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Foxman, who understands the dangers when people exploit a religion for their own racist intent, noted that the bills were based “on model legislation issued by the American Public Policy Alliance, an unabashedly anti-Muslim advocacy group that defends the legislation as seeking to ‘protect American citizens’ constitutional rights against the infiltration and incursion of foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines, especially Islamic Shariah Law.’”

“These measures are, at their core, predicated on prejudice and ignorance,” wrote Foxman, who has taken his own rounds of criticism for this editorial in the JTA. “They constitute a form of camouflaged bigotry that enables their proponents to advance an idea that finds fault with the Muslim faith and paints all Muslim Americans as foreigners and anti-American crusaders.

“Let us…reject those who seek to divide us for political gain, or those who wish to stereotype and scapegoat an entire people because of their religious faith,” Foxman said.

Yet many Americans remain confused about Islam and Shariah. Acknowledging this, the White House released a report last week outlining a new strategy to reach out to local communities, and to educate community leaders about the religion.

The document is entitled: “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.”

“It seems obvious that these are individuals who are blinded by hatred and who have a personal agenda, writes Sheila Musaji in The American Muslim.

But acknowledges that leaders must stop using ignorance of a religion as a basis to promote themselves through fear: “Unless the hateful statements made about Islam and Muslims by government officials and elected representatives are publically challenged by other officials and representatives, and unless Islamophobes stop being considered as the go to experts on Islam and Muslims, then this report will have little or no effect on improving relationships with the American Muslim community.”