WASHINGTON, March 6: A US congressional panel will begin a series of hearings on the radicalisation of Muslims in the US as legislators in the State of Tennessee consider a proposal to make it a felony to follow some versions of the Shariah.

During the congressional hearings, which begin on Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee will also ask Muslim leaders what they’re doing to stop radicalisation.

The high-profile hearings have outraged critics across the US who oppose signalling out a group based on their faith.

Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of the US Congress, points out that if some members of the Muslim community indulged in terrorist activities, the overwhelming majority not only opposed it but also helped authorities in catching the suspects.

“If you look at these five gentlemen who have tried to go from the Virginia-Maryland area to Pakistan to fight in some holy war it was Muslim Americans who actually reported them,” Congressman Ellison said.

“If you want to talk about Faisal Shahzad, who tried to blow up that bomb in Times Square, a Muslim from Senegal was one of the people who reported it,” he said.

“There are occasion after occasion. That’s why I think the strategy should be to engage the community; don’t frighten the community.”

But chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Peter King, disagreed. “I don’t believe this is sufficient cooperation,” he said. “Certainly in my dealings with the police in New York and FBI and others say they do not believe they get the level of cooperation that they need,” he told CNN.

On Sunday, groups opposed to the hearings held a rally in New York.

Over 80 people of different faiths – Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus – sent Mr King a letter urging him to cancel the hearings.

“These diverse faith leaders believe the singling out of the Muslim community undermines fundamental American values and is counter-productive to improving national security,” the letter said.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport and Muslims are not a football to be thrown around. We are people with rights and responsibility to speak up,” said an e-mail circulated by the Muslim Peace Coalition, which opposed the proposed hearings.

Tennessee is considering a bill which makes it a felony to follow some versions of the Shariah.

At least 13 US states have bills pending that would bar judges from considering Shariah in legal decisions but none of those proposals is as strict as what Tennessee is weighing.?