An American professor is still employed in a public university in Florida and getting paid in U.S. tax dollars despite his blatant endorsement of Shariah Law, including cutting off a thief's hand as spelled out in the Quran.

Bassem Al-Halabi, associate professor of engineering and computer science at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, pushed for the punishment during last month's Islamophobia panel discussion sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood's Muslim Student Association.

During the discussion, Al-Halabi said, "Where there is no Shariah, Islamic Shariah, they die in dozens and hundreds every day because of organised crime. People kill people, other people or steal pizza for $10 – so what Islamic Shariah is saying about capital punishment – so even though it sounds like it is severe but if that is the solution to prevent any crimes, then it still has a lot of rules and regulations."

He added, "I will just mention one and stop here, which is let's say cutting off the hands of a person if they steal. It sounds very severe. It sounds very barbaric, I know. But if takes one or two people to have their hands cut off, and then there's no more stealing and there's no more stealing in the whole nation – that's a much better resolution than having hundreds of people die every day.

A check by WND with the switchboard operator of the department where he teaches confirmed that Al-Halabi is still a professor at FAU.

Dr. Andrew Bostom, author of "Legacy of Jihad," told WND, "One wonders which of Caitlyn Jenner's appendages the good professor would want amputated?"

But Bostom said Halabi was just being honest.

"In all seriousness, the man is simply a pious, Shariah-compliant Muslim making a mainstream Islamic argument for the 'justice' of the Shariah," he said.

Clare Lopez, vice president of policy and analysis for the Center for Security Policy, said an honest discussion of Shariah law is not bad altogether.

Lopez said instead of castigating the professor, who she said was just honest and not radical, "they ought to invite him to convene a panel presentation to discuss a full range of Shariah injunctions, most especially to focus on the seven Hudud crimes and punishments ... as long as he agrees to specifically cite only authoritative Islamic sources, such as Quran, Sunna and relevant tafsirs."