Oklahoma became the first U.S. state to ban the non-existent threat of Sharia law yesterday. Nearly 70 percent of voters there approved ballot initiative “Question 755” – or the “Save Our State” constitutional amendment – which bans Sharia from being considered in Oklahoma courts. The ballot states that Oklahoma courts must “rely on federal and state law when deciding cases” and forbids them from “considering or using international law” and “from considering or using Sharia Law.”

The measure’s sponsor, Republican state senator Rex Duncan, called the result a “preemptive strike” against local judges whom he thinks might be “legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law.”

Think Progress, 3 November 2010

See also Weblog of Dawud Walid, 3 November 2010

And “Law professor: ban on Sharia law ‘a mess'”, CNN, 3 November 2010

Update:  See “Lawsuit expected Thursday challenging Shariah law vote”, Tulsa World, 3 November 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=onGxKNSDT3Q

A group vowing to fight “Islamofascism” has launched a media blitz in Oklahoma supporting a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit the courts from considering Islamic or other international law when ruling on cases in Sooner State courtrooms.

The campaign by Act! For America, founded by Lebanese American journalist Brigitte Gabriel, includes a radio ad that began airing Monday, opinion articles and robo-calls from former CIA director and Tulsa native James Woolsey urging residents to vote for the ballot initiative.

The group says the constitutional amendment will prevent the takeover of Oklahoma by Islamic extremists who want to undo America from the inside out.

“We want to make sure that the people in Oklahoma are educated about what Shariah law is all about and its ramifications,” Gabriel, president and CEO of the group, told FoxNews.com. “We’re not taking any chances with this initiative passing marginally. We hope it passes with great victory.”

In two weeks, Oklahoma voters will decide the fate of State Question 755, or better known as “Save Our State” amendment after the Republican-controlled state legislature passed it with an 82-10 vote in the House and a 41-2 vote in the Senate.

A poll by The Tulsa World in July found that 49 percent of voters support the amendment compared to 24 percent who opposed it and 27 percent who were undecided.

The group’s radio ad recounts the story of a New Jersey family court judge’s decision not to grant a restraining order to a woman who was sexually abused by her Moroccan husband and forced repeatedly to have sex with him. The judge ruled that her ex-husband felt he had behaved according to his Muslim beliefs and that he did not have “criminal desire to or intent to sexually assault” his wife.

“This is just one chilling example of how Islamic Shariah law has begun to penetrate America,” the narrator says. “Help us stop Shariah law from coming to Oklahoma.”

The ad did not mention that New Jersey’s Appellate Court overturned the decision in July, ruling that the husband’s religious beliefs were irrelevant and that the judge, in taking them into consideration, “was mistaken.”

Gabriel argued that Shariah law is taking hold in Europe, noting that at least 85 Shariah courts are operating in Britain. “When we look at Europe, it is a preview of what’s coming to the United States,” she said. “We want to make sure this does not happen here.”

Fox News, 20 October 2010