Even the most far-fetched myths usually start from a kernel of fact. So we set out to find the origin of the idea, now commonly accepted in far right circles, that there is a move afoot among Muslims to supplant the Anglo-American legal system with Islamic Sharia law.

Rachel Slajda did the sleuthing and what she found is that disparate facts — a piece of documentary evidence in a trial of a Muslim charity, a highly questionable court ruling in New Jersey, and Muslim cabbies in the Twin Cities refusing to carry passengers with alcohol — were used by some of the hardest-core neocons to plant the seed for this “stealth jihad.” That myth is now in full bloom and is readily accepted within the conservative mainstream. Interesting read.

David Kurtz

David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.