Amid legislation targeting Islam in the Arizona Legislature, ASU's Muslim community is emphasizing advocacy and solidarity.
This year, state lawmakers have sought to obtain a federal labeling of Muslim groups as terrorist organizations and ban the application of Shariah, the system of Islamic religious law, in judicial contexts.
Republican Rep. John Gillette of Kingman proposed House Concurrent Memorial 2002 to urge the federal government to conduct a review to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization. House Concurrent Memorial 2001, which Gillette also introduced, would ask the federal government to designate the Muslim Brotherhood in the same way.
Gillette has called Muslims "savages" several times in the past and, in an X post on Sept. 1, 2025, said they should return to their countries of origin.
Republican Sen. Janae Shamp of Surprise introduced Senate Bill 1018 to classify Shariah as a form of prohibited "foreign law" in Arizona.
Gillette and Shamp did not respond to requests for comment.
Martín Quezada is the attorney and civil rights director for the Arizona chapter of CAIR, as well as a faculty associate at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and an ASU alumnus. He is also a former state senator.
Quezada said CAIR-AZ monitors the state legislature every year and keeps track of legislation that impacts the Muslim community.
"The community in general is feeling targeted, because if they're willing to go after one organization first, like CAIR, who are they going to go after next?" Quezada said.
The point of HCM 2002 is to discourage people from speaking out, Quezada said. The legislation accomplished that goal by "trying to make an example out of CAIR."
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Quezada said that despite the legislation being "nonsense," it shouldn't prevent others from standing up for their peers.
"We recognize that it's trying to divide rather than unite," Quezada said. "We're going to stand up for all the organizations that are supporting the Muslim community in our campus."
The Arizona Students' Association and the ASU chapter of the National Lawyers Guild were among local groups that signed an open letter to the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate condemning HCM2002.
Huthaifa Shqeirat, the social director for the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, said pieces of legislation like those proposed disrupt Muslim students' lives physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
"It creates this dark cloud that hangs over the average head of the average Muslim family, the average Muslim student who's trying to focus on their job, trying to focus on their studies, trying to get from point A to point B and just be left alone," Shqeirat said.
Shqeirat said people seek to undermine mosques and organizations like CAIR to benefit politically or distract from other issues.
"We've sort of become scapegoats," Shqeirat said.
These organizations offer civil rights advocacy, faith-based support and humanitarian services, and are foundational structures for the Muslim community.
Especially during Ramadan, Shqeirat said the demonization of the Muslim community comes with vandalism of mosques, and threats and harassment toward congregants leaving nightly prayer.
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"It (is) just a series of bills targeting Muslims, meant to make their life harder, meant to demonize them, meant to scrutinize them," Shqeirat said. "We've seen that happen time and time and time and time again."
Emra Muslim, a senior studying political science, said HCM 2002 resonated with her because of her Muslim identity. She used the Legislature's Request to Speak system to sign on in opposition to the legislation.
"These aren't pure intentions," Muslim said. "This isn't trying to make Arizona more safe or secure. It is trying to label a Muslim civil rights organization in a certain way."
She said it sends a message to the Muslim community that "you have to defend yourself" without groups protecting their civil rights.
"It is harmful, because it's saying to the Muslim community, but also to others, that if you engage in any sort of advocacy that someone might not agree with, you could be seen as a domestic enemy," Muslim said.
The three pieces of legislation are undergoing consideration in the Arizona Legislature.
HCM 2001 and HCM 2002 passed committee of the whole votes on Feb. 23. Most recently, SB 1018 received committee approvals.
Editor's note: Emra Muslim reported for The State Press from September to December 2024.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Jack McCarthy, Emilio Alvarado, Sophia Braccio and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at apruiz@asu.edu and follow @andiruiz2405 on X.
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Andi Ruiz is a lead politics reporter at the State Press dedicated to serving her community with truth and honesty in her reporting. She has been working in broadcast and news since high school and was recently an anchor at The Cut Network during her first year at Cronkite. She is going into her second year at ASU as a Barrett Honors student studying journalism and mass communication.
