Consequences of islamophobia network

The Islamophobia network mischaracterizes Sharia as a totalitarian ideology of hate and triumphalism committed to replacing the U.S. Constitution with a radical Islamist caliphate that will subordinate and punish all non-Muslim adherents. 

But what is Sharia law actually?

The latest calculated smear against Islam and Muslims in America is committed by a small but vocal network through the deliberate misdefinition of Sharia, or Islamic law. This network mischaracterizes Sharia as a totalitarian ideology committed to destroying western civilization.

The description is unrecognizable to the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the United States and abroad. In fact, every practicing Muslim follows Sharia, which translates to “the path,” in part and in different ways. There are no 10 commandments that make up Sharia. Instead, for Muslims, it is the ideal law of God as interpreted by Muslim scholars over centuries to achieve justice, fairness, and mercy, primarily through personal religious observances such as prayer and fasting.

Undeterred, the Islamophobia network’s description of Sharia is spread based on a sophisticated misinformation campaign. Their misinformation campaign is designed to draw donations to right-wing foundations, think tanks, grassroots organizations, and conservative Christian fundamentalist groups, in addition to drumming up political campaign contributions and votes for radical right-wing politicians.

In 2011, Michigan State Rep. David Agema (R) introduced a bill called the anti-foreign law act meant to ban the implementation of Sharia law.

In Michigan, the first elected female Muslim representative Rashida Tlaib (D) worked with several organizations to stop the passage of an anti-Sharia bill. She was able to rally support from Jews and Christians who realized that if a law could impede the rights of Muslims, it could also be applied to Catholic canon law or halachah in Judaism.

In the end, the bill died in committee as proponents failed to demonstrate to Republican and Democratic committee leadership how Sharia law was an actual threat to the nation or to the state of Michigan.

David Yerushalmi is an attorney who works closely with many of the members of the Islamophobia network and believes that Sharia is a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. In 2007, he drafted a template anti-Sharia legislation called the “American Laws for American Courts,” a model bill that has been introduced in 31 state legislatures across the country. 

From 2011 to 2013, 95 of the 114 anti-Sharia bills introduced in state legislatures borrowed language from Yerushalmi’s model law.

The NYPD Demographics Unit

The Demographics Unit of the New York Police Department, later known as the Zone Assessment Unit, was created with the help of the CIA following the 9/11 attacks to conduct surveillance and monitor Muslims in New York City and the Tri-State Area. However, the Demographics Unit never led to a single terrorism investigation.

NYPD's Muslim spying program is exposed

In 2011, Associated Press reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman won the Pulitzer Prize for revealing that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the New York Police Department, or NYPD, had consistently spied on the Muslim community in New York City and the Tri-State Area.

An end to the Demographics Unit?

In April 2014, under the leadership of its new commissioner, William J. Bratton, the New York City Police Department announced that it would disband the Demographics Unit responsible for mapping New York’s Muslim communities.

In its own public statement on the closing of the surveillance program, the NYPD conceded that “it has been determined that much of the same information previously gathered by the [Muslim spying program over the years] may be obtained through direct outreach by the NYPD to the communities concerned” instead of spying on them.

However, less than one month after announcing the end of the NYPD surveillance program, The New York Times reported that the department has not backed away from other counterterrorism initiatives it created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, including recruiting Arab and Muslim men to serve as informants.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013—when two bombs exploded during the annual Boston Marathon—many news outlets badly misrepresented the state of law-enforcement efforts. In many cases, these errors were based on assumptions that the perpetrators were dark skinned or Middle Eastern.

CNN’s John King incorrectly said on the air that authorities were pursuing a “dark-skinned male.” And the New York Post claimed that a “Saudi male” was in custody.

Once the suspects’ identity became known—and that they were white and Muslim—many in the media still searched for the Islam or radical Islam connection. This speculation ranged from explorations of the suspects’ Chechen background to more insidious, outright assertions about Islam being a violent religion.

Politicians such as Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) tied the attacks to immigration reform and called on more scrutiny of immigrants from Muslim nations. Additionally, an amendment introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the Senate comprehensive immigration bill calling for heightened scrutiny of applicants for legal status from Muslim-majority countries successfully passed.

After the bombing and the dark-skinned reports, hate crimes were reported across the Boston area, including an attack on a Muslim doctor, Heba Abolaban as she was walking her baby in a stroller in Malden, Massachusetts.

The example of Heba illustrates how a community came together to fight against the Islamophobia network’s fear mongering.