CAIR-Philadelphia

"This bill feeds the perception that Muslims are anti-American foreigners," Moein Khawaja, director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a Philadelphia news conference Wednesday. Khawaja urged Gov. Tom Corbett to veto the bill if it reaches him.

A rabbi, an interfaith leader, and a Temple University professor joined the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Wednesday to denounce as "Islamophobic" a Pennsylvania bill they say is an attack on sharia law, which is followed by devout Muslims. House Bill 2029, introduced by Rep. Rosemarie Swanger (R., Lebanon), says state courts shall not, in deciding cases, "consider a foreign legal code or system" that lacks "the same fundamental liberties" as the state and federal Constitutions.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and city religious leaders are fighting what they call an “anti-Sharia” bill. The proposal from state Rep. RoseMarie Swanger, R-Lebanon, would ban the application of foreign legal codes or systems that don’t grant the same rights as the U.S. Constitution.

Members of Philadelphia’s Muslim community are disturbed by proposed legislation which they say attacks their faith. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Philadelphia, is upset with proposed legislation in the Pennsylvania House which would prohibit Pennsylvania courts from applying foreign laws or foreign legal doctrines in deciding cases. Specifically, the council alleges that Islamic or “sharia” law is under attack in the measure which is sitting in the House Judiciary Committee.

You knew this was coming. The Pennsylvania Legislature is currently considering an “Anti-Sharia Law” law that’d ban state courts from considering any “foreign legal code or system” that isn’t identical with the Constitution. According to an article on the bill at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the potential bill, likely aimed at those who fear Islam creeping onto their front lawn, is having the opposite effect and has decidedly offended, according to the Gazette, “some Jews.”

Amara Chaudhry at one time was with a law firm in Charleston, W.Va., and more recently the public defender’s office in Montgomery County prior to joining CAIR. Although only with the firm for a short time, she also made sure to take on a wide variety of pro bono matters in addition to her criminal defense work. And Chaudhry may be the exception to the rule of “networking” in that all of her jobs were obtained through cold resume sends. She also emphasized the point that you need to be willing to do the work for free before someone will pay you to do it.