Beyond the “Sharia Scare”: Equipping Faith Leaders to Respond to Political Campaigning Against Muslims
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Equipping Faith Leaders to Respond to Political Campaigning Against Muslims
In this mid-term election year, there has been a resurgence in politicians stoking fears about sharia, or Islamic law. What is sharia, anyway? Is it really a threat to the U.S. Constitution? Is it similar to Jewish and Christian notion of religious law? Why are politicians talking about it—or seeking to ban it—again? How is the rhetoric about sharia connected to the broader surge in Islamophobia that we’re seeing right now? How do these efforts affect Muslims—and potentially all Americans? How can faith leaders talk to our religious congregations about this?
JOIN US VIRTUALLY on Wednesday, May 13, 2026 from 12pm to 1:30pm ET, as explore these questions and more with our expert panel:
- Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes is a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, where she specializes in comparative Islamic and U.S.constitutional law.
- Dr. Syed Atif Rizwan is Assistant Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, and the Director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program, at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He focuses on Islamic intellectual history, the intersection of Islamic criminal laws and ethics, and interreligious studies and dialogue.
- Dr. Benjamin Sax serves as the Head of Scholarship and as the Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. His work focuses on Jewish history, thought, and culture, Jewish-Christian relations, and interreligious dialogue.
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