Speakers on Tuesday said that evidence of anti-Mohammedan bigotry included inflammatory remarks made by elected public officials.
"We continue to solicit and receive the support of many Mohammedan Americans who love this nation and work with our government to protect it," Democratic senator Dick Durbin,
...Senator-for-Life from Illinois and Democratic Party Whip. In April 2006, Time magazine identified Durbin as one of
America's 10 Best Senators,so what's that tell you? He was the first United States Senator to support the presidential candidacy of Barack
B.O.Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois....
chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee chair, said.
"At the same time, many law-abiding Mohammedan Americans face discrimination and charges that they're not real Americans simply because of their religion."
Earlier this month, Republican congressman Peter King held a hearing on "radicalisation in the US Mohammedan community", which
Efforts are also under way in several US states to ban Islamic legal practice as a perceived threat to the country's legal system.
Muhammed Malik, Mohammedan-American community advocate in Florida, said: "These 'anti-sharia' proposals are wild manifestations of an increasingly rabid Islamophobia which aims to cause division and mobilise the fear vote in 2012.
"That such measures are being introduced speaks volumes about how many of our politicians are more interested in distracting the public's attention away from more important issues, such as improving our economy and ending racial profiling."
Mohammedans 'must do more'
Republican senator
Lindsey Graham... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
told the congressional panel he supported "Mohammedan rights" - but called on Mohammedans to do more "to protect the United States from attack".
"Get in this fight," he said. "You're going to have to help your country, probably uniquely compared to anyone else - understand what's going on and fight back. The front lines of this war are in our own back door and our own neighbourhoods."
The number of federal discrimination cases brought by local authorities to prevent mosques from opening in their communities surged in May 2010, the committee was told. More than 800 incidents of violence, vandalism and arson against people believed to be Mohammedan, Arab or South Asian, have been investigated by the justice department in the past 10 years.
Thomas Perez, the assistant US attorney general for civil rights, said there had been a 150 per cent jump in workplace discrimination against Mohammedans since 2001, often over religious dress and worship schedules, while Mohammedan youth are often the victims of bullying in schools.
'Too many mosques'
Tuesday's hearing quickly became split along party lines, after Congressman King told news hounds the proceedings would "perpetuate the myth that there is a serious anti-Islam issue in this country".
Senator Durbin responded by referring to controversial remarks attributed to King and Newt Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker now considering a bid for the White House.
"A leading member of Congress stated bluntly: 'There are too many mosques in this country'. A former speaker of the House falsely claimed: 'America's experiencing an Islamist cultural political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilisation'," Durbin said.
"Such inflammatory speech from prominent public leaders creates a fertile climate for discrimination."