- The Republicans are organizing hearings that they pass off as being opposed to Sharia.
- Muslim groups say such hearings view Muslims as outsiders.
- Democrats say such hearings are a distraction used by Republicans.
WASHINGTON: Muslim American groups said congressional hearings that Republican lawmakers say are aimed at making the US “sharia-free” are being weaponized against Muslim minorities in the US by stoking fear against them.
Republicans, who hold majorities in both houses of Congress, titled a Wednesday hearing of a House Judiciary subcommittee “Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam and Sharia Law Are Inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution.” A similar hearing was also held in February.
“The radicals pushing political Islam do not want to coexist with America’s culture and political order. They want to replace it,” Republican U.S. Representative Chip Roy said at the hearing.
Critics have said such hearings single out Muslims for ridicule, revive tropes and conspiracy theories against them, and are unnecessary because American laws rule on American soil.
There is no evidence that any mainstream American Muslim group has advocated imposing Sharia on the United States.
The American Council of Muslim Organizations, which represents more than 50 Muslim groups, condemned what it called “the government’s weaponization of American Muslims” and said the hearings engaged in the “politics of fear.”
“Anti-Sharia hearings are not about protecting the Constitution. They are about demonizing Islam and portraying Muslim Americans as perpetual outsiders,” said the Council on American Islamic Relations’ Maryland director, Zainab Chaudry.
Democratic US Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the hearings were a distraction and an attack on religious freedom.
American rights activists have noted rising Islamophobia over the years, attributing it to the attacks of September 11, 2001; and more recently to anti-immigration policies, white supremacy and the aftermath of Israel’s war in Gaza.
CAIR says it recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in the U.S. in 2025, the highest since it began publishing data in 1996.
An April study by the think tank Center for the Study of Organized Hate says anti-Muslim bigotry by Republican elected officials has increased since early 2025, citing over 1,100 online posts from Republican members of Congress and governors.
Republican governors in Florida and Texas have labeled CAIR, which has opposed Republican President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and pro-Palestinian protests, as a “terrorist” group. CAIR and other civil rights groups have condemned the allegations.
