Amendment One, a measure on the ballot in Tuesday's statewide election, would amend the state constitution to prohibit the application of foreign law.
It results from an earlier effort that called for a ban on Sharia, the religious law and moral code of Muslims.
"This particular bill started as an anti-Sharia bill a few years ago," said Ashfaq Taufique, president of the Birmingham Islamic Society. "A similar law in Oklahoma was ruled unconstitutional (by the state supreme court) for singling out a particular religion, so its supporters rewrote it and made it more generic."
Here's the ballot description: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit the State of Alabama from giving full faith and credit to public acts, records, or judicial proceedings of another state that violate the public policy of the State of Alabama and to prohibit the application of foreign law in violation of rights guaranteed natural citizens by the United States and Alabama Constitutions, and the statutes, laws, and public policy thereof, but without application to business entities.
"It is aimed at Islam, that's what its origination was from," Taufique said. "There is no evidence of Muslims ever asking for Sharia Law to be implemented in American courts. We practice within the law of our country. That's just fear-mongering."
Eric Johnston, a Birmingham attorney who drafted the amendment for State Sen. Gerald Allen, who sponsored it, said it has a wider application.
"It deals with a whole lot more than Sharia law," Johnston said. "It deals with conflicts in laws with same-sex marriage, legal marijuana and capital punishment."
Increasingly, U.S. courts have been asked to consider European Union laws or other factors besides U.S. law in making rulings, Johnston said. "It's only guidance to judges," Johnston said. "When people come in our courts and begin to argue why we should change our laws on capital punishment, you don't need to be considering what the European Union does."
Sharia law has been introduced as evidence in U.S. courts in deciding custody disputes, Johnston said. For example, a father who is a Muslim and lives in a Muslim country may argue that his American wife should not be awarded custody because it would be a violation of Sharia to not raise the child as a Muslim. "Their lawyers argue that you have to apply Sharia law," Johnston said.
"Sharia law has a legal and political component," Johnston said. "It violates women's rights. Sharia law is a problem for women. There have been a number of custody cases. I'm not aware of any in Alabama, but there's no point in waiting until we have one."
Paul Horwitz, professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, described the purpose of the law for AL.com: "The reason is outright hostility to Muslims. Earlier versions of this legislation were clearly targeted specifically at Islamic law, although their proponents had no examples of any Alabama court enforcing Islamic law at all, let alone using it to violate anyone's rights. Amendment One and its predecessors are copies of model legislation drafted by virulently racist anti-Islamic activists from outside Alabama."
Quin Hillyer, writing on AL.com in favor of the amendment, said, "It's not just shariah law that should concern us. Again and again in recent years, American judges unable to find support in American law for their preferred outcome instead cite the supposed authority of laws from Europe, Asia or elsewhere."
Hillyer cited a study by the Center for Security Policy that analyzed legal cases in which Sharia law was discussed, including custody disputes involving Americans and Muslims who are not U.S. citizens.
The use of the term Sharia in American politics has become a fear-mongering tactic, Taufique said.
"Sharia is about my relationship with God, family, and the community," Taufique said. "I've never heard of it any attempt for Sharia law to be implemented in U.S. courts at all. We don't have that it in Pakistan. That's where I grew up. Ninety-five percent of Sharia is religious practice, the way I do prayers, the way I fast, the way I do ablutions. A small percent relates to divorce and inheritance. I wrote my will according to the Islamic law of inheritance. Another small portion deals with criminal law. That cannot be implemented in the United States. The U.S. Constitution will not allow criminal law from other countries to be practiced in the United States."
Taufique said the amendment is really about anti-Muslim political motivations.
"It's a political ploy," Taufique said. "It says, 'I'm against sharia law, so therefore vote for me.'"
Johnston said it would not affect the rights of Muslims or any other religious group. It would just make sure Alabama cases are decided by Alabama and U.S. laws, he said.
"It does not take away anybody's rights," Johnston said.