Proposed legislation in the Tennessee legislature would outlaw practicing portions of the Islamic religion, called Sharia law.
State senator Bill Ketron and state representative Judd Matheny introduced the bill in the Senate and House, respectively, of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The legislation would allow for the peaceful practice of the religion but would make supporting Sharia law a felony punishable by fines, up to 15 years in jail, or both. The bill claims Sharia law requires its followers to support the overthrowing of state and U.S. governments.
"The knowing adherence to Sharia and to foreign Sharia authorities constitutes a conspiracy to further the legal, political and military doctrine and system which embraces the law of jihad," the bill reads.
Zeenan Pathan, president of the Muslim Student Association at The University of Memphis, said people are afraid of Sharia law because they don't know what it means.
"It's basically the system of law and regulations that Muslims believe God sent down to us so that we can live our life," the sophomore psychology major said. "It has rules and particular guidelines for life."
Pathan said that some portions of Sharia Law are not practiced by most Muslims in the United States.
"It's not something an individual can undertake. It has to be done in an Islamic State. It's a community system," he said. "(Muslims) don't want that. We've been given all these freedoms here in America. Why would we do that? It makes no sense."
Muslims in this country generally do not consider Sharia the supreme law of the land, he said.
"We have the (U.S.) Constitution, and we want to respect that," he said.
Pathan said the bill does threaten some parts of Sharia that Muslims in the U.S. do practice, such as ablution, washing certain parts of the body before prayer.
"It would mean Muslims in Tennessee would be at risk of being sent to jail if we were caught doing ablution in the bathroom or praying," he said. "One of the main pillars of our faith is to pray five times a day. If the bill is passed, I won't be able to pray."
Joseph Hayden, associate professor of journalism, said states have the right to pass whatever they want, but that doesn't mean such laws would be constitutional.
"According to our First Amendment, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,'" he said. "That's a low threshold, so a bill actually abridging this religion would be struck down by the (Supreme) Court."
Hayden said Sharia law is complicated and entails such details as dietary restrictions and hygienic practices.
"No American law could tell a Kosher Jew he must eat shellfish or force a Catholic to abandon fasting during Lent. In our country, you're free to restrict yourself all you want," he said. "There's always been a xenophobic element in U.S. history — people afraid of anyone who's different. Lawmakers fearful of the influx of Catholics used the exact same language for more than two centuries to smear people they thought were ‘spies, dupes and minions of the papacy.'"
Jeanne Hanna, president of U of M's chapter of human rights organization Amnesty International, said she thinks there is widespread misunderstanding about Sharia law, and people might be taking advantage of that.
She said when people don't understand something, it's easy to discriminate against it accidentally, and when people are afraid, "they do things they wouldn't normally do."
"I think people should be more open and willing to learn about different cultures and dispositions," the sophomore anthropology major said. "If people did understand the faiths of different people better, I think situations like these could be avoided."
