Islam is a male-centric theocracy which is posing as religion.
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Virginia Bill Would Create “Sharia Lite” in the Old Dominion
Amid rising concerns nationally about efforts to institute elements of Sharia law in American communities, a bill introduced in the Virginia State Senate could effectively make it illegal to criticize Islam under the guise of combatting “Islamophobia.”
SB 624, which was introduced at the start of the Virginia legislative session in January, “Defines ‘Islamophobia’ as it relates to the crime of assault and battery as malicious prejudice or hatred directed toward Islam or Muslims,” according to an online summary. Notably, the definition applies “regardless of whether the victim is actually a practitioner of Islam” and “directs the Department of State Police, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to include the bill’s definition of ‘Islamophobia’ in its hate crime reporting central repository.”
The bill’s patron, Senator Saddam Azlan Salim, is a 36-year-old Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh who was first elected in 2023. He also generated controversy this year for sponsoring a bill, SB 749, which was billed as an “assault weapons ban” but included most commonly owned firearms used for hunting, sport shooting, and self-defense. That legislation has since passed the State Senate and is now under consideration in the House of Delegates.
It may be tempting to dismiss SB 624 as just another liberal virtue-signaling bill. But by incorporating “Islamophobia” as defined in the bill under the category of “assault and battery,” it takes the radical new step of effectively criminalizing anything that can be construed as “hatred” of Islam.
In other words, displaying “malicious prejudice and hatred” toward not only Muslims, but also anyone who could be perceived as Muslim, would be treated the same under Virginia law as physically attacking or harming someone.
It’s not difficult to see how, if this bill became law, it would create a sort of “Sharia Lite” in Virginia. The definition of what counts as “malicious prejudice” is left intentionally vague to allow for activist-minded prosecutors and judges to target anyone who dares criticize Islamic culture or teachings and charge them with a hate crime.
In effect, it’s a watered-down version of blasphemy laws that pervade Muslim-majority countries – and once it takes root, it’s a safe bet that enforcement will only become more extreme over time.
Despite receiving virtually no mainstream media coverage, SB 624 is one of the most egregious attempted assaults on the First Amendment in recent history. While Salim claims that he was “careful to ensure this does not regulate speech” and says that he “didn’t want to put anything in place that would limit someone’s First Amendment rights,” the plain text of the bill proves otherwise.
First, the bill transparently attempts to create a special legal status for Islam as a religion that no other faith has. Former Governor Glenn Youngkin already signed a bill, SB 7, which enhances assault charges for anyone who “intentionally selects the person against whom a simple assault is committed because of his race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or ethnic or national origin.” That law covers Muslims, which betrays that SB 624 is really about carving out a privileged status for Islam.
SB 624 is also a clear attempt to impose criminal penalties on anyone who wishes to exercise their freedom of speech to criticize Islam. Even if speech is disagreeable to some, even if it is hateful to most, it is still protected under the First Amendment – but this bill tramples those protections. Assault and battery are crimes that, by definition, denote physical action, but SB 624 raises certain speech to that level of offense.
What should make SB 624 even more outrageous and insulting to Virginia voters is the contrast with legislation that Salim and other Democrats are advancing to reduce penalties for other, more serious crimes. Even as Senate Democrats attempt to ramp up penalties on anyone expressing “malicious prejudice” toward Muslims, another bill, HB 863, abolishes mandatory minimum sentences for some of the worst offenses, including rape, manslaughter, assaulting police officers, and distributing child pornography. Astonishingly, if that bill becomes law, someone convicted of raping a child under the age of 13 could only face probation and escape jail time altogether.
For now, Virginians can breathe a sigh of relief that SB 624 has been “continued to 2027.” This means that the bill won’t be taken up for a vote this year – but it’s not dead. Democrats could’ve killed it entirely by voting to “pass by indefinitely.” Instead, they agreed to consider it again next year.
Americans in other states should pay attention to what’s happening in Virginia – and in places like Texas, where AMAC is involved in an effort against Sharia law – with grave concern. If SB 624 passes in the Old Dominion, it will become a blueprint for similar laws in other states. The concept of “separation of church and state” is entirely antithetical to Sharia law. Politicians and voters alike who care about preserving constitutional republican government should urgently reject its creeping influence.
B.C. Brutus is the pen name of a writer with previous experience in the legislative and executive branches.
