Updated at 3:20 p.m.: Revised to include additional details about a security summit Biedermann will host.

AUSTIN — A Central Texas lawmaker has sent letters to mosques across Texas asking Islamic leaders to answer questions about their support for Shariah law, a move critics decried as a calculated effort to intimidate Muslims who planned to visit the Capitol.

In anticipation of Texas Muslim Capitol Day on Jan. 31, Rep. Kyle Biedermann, a Republican from Fredericksburg, and two ideological organizations that claim to fight Islamic extremism in the U.S. sent a poll that asks mosque leaders to indicate their support for three documents. The letter bears Biedermann's Capitol address, and the words "URGENT REPLY ASAP" are stamped in bright red letters on the envelope.

One of the documents Biedermann seeks support for is a "Declaration of Muslim Reform Movement" that repudiates "institutionalized Sharia" and declares support for secular governance, democracy and liberty. The second is a "Muslim Pledge for Religious Freedom and Safety from Harm for Former Muslims," which renounces persecution of so-called apostates who leave Islam. The third is federal legislation that designates the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.

Islamic leaders who received the poll said they viewed it as fear-mongering and intimidation. But they said they would not be swayed from coming to the Capitol to talk with lawmakers as they have every legislative session since 2003.

"All of this foolishness they're doing, they could spend their time better getting to know us," said Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "They don't have the courage to do that."

Texas Impact, a statewide network of faith leaders from all denominations, has urged mosque leaders not to respond to Biedermann's letter, which they said bears no official weight despite its calculatedly official appearance. The group also sent the lawmaker a letter condemning the survey as "disturbing" and "remarkably inhospitable."

"In our view, the letter accompanying your survey is misleading and intimidating," the Rev. Whitney Bodman, president of Texas Impact, wrote to Biedermann.

The Fredericksburg lawmaker, who is in his first term, gained notoriety during his campaign when a photo surfaced of him in a "gay Hitler" costume. Biedermann also ran into ethical questions before his term began when he invited, and then uninvited, lawmakers and their staffers to a $100-per-ticket polo match and alcohol tasting event.

The letter Biedermann sent Jan. 11, the day after he was sworn into office, tells mosque leaders to complete the poll by indicating whether they support the three documents and mailing their responses to Biedermann. The results, the letter says, will be shared with other Texas elected officials. In underlined type, it orders a reply by Jan. 20.

Despite the letter's indication that the poll is related to Texas Muslim Capitol Day, Biedermann said in an emailed statement that his effort was connected to a Law Enforcement & Homeland Security Advisory Council he created after he was elected. The poll, he said, was sent in advance of a Homeland Security Summit he is hosting.

A flyer advertising that event on Jan. 26 at the Capitol includes the subtitle "Defending Against Radical Islamic Terrorism in Texas" and lists "special guest speakers" that include Jasser, Darwish and Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne. The mayor made national headlines in 2015 when she accused local mosque leaders of bypassing American courts and instituting Shariah law. Van Duyne did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

"The number one priority of the advisory council has been border security and keeping Texas strong and secure," Biedermann said in an emailed statement. "Texans of all backgrounds and religions are invited to contact our office to improve both Texas' border and overall homeland security."

The letter, however, specifically asks about Shariah law and seems to be intended to gauge leaders' support for it.

"According to the Pew Research Center, large percentages of Muslims in 39 countries want Sharia law, a legal code based on the Quran and other authoritative Islamic writings, to be the official law of the land," the letter states. It goes on to say that the European Court of Human Rights has "unequivocally ruled that Sharia law is absolutely incompatible with the fundamental principles of freedom and democracy."

Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, and Nonie Darwish, director of Former Muslims United Inc., signed the letter with Biedermann.

Mohamed-Umer Esmail, an Austin imam who received the poll, said his community is getting accustomed to unfriendliness at the Capitol and other political arenas.

"It didn't come as a shock because of the environment since the past one-and-a-half years, since the beginning of the Trump campaign," he said.

Esmail said he would not respond to the survey and instead suggested that Biedermann look to past statements of Texas imams who have condemned terrorist attacks and violence committed by other Muslims.

"Every time an attack takes place, we condemn it," he said.

Carroll said the notion that Muslims want Sharia law to govern the land is untrue and misguided.

"All these people are trying to do is intimidate the Muslim community," he said.

Two years ago, Rep. Molly White, a Republican from Belton, drew criticism on Muslim Capitol Day when she placed an Israeli flag on her reception desk at the Capitol and instructed her staff to ask Muslims who visited her office to renounce Islamic terrorists and pledge allegiance to the U.S.

"We will see how long they stay in my office," White posted on Facebook.

Then, House Speaker Joe Straus, without mentioning White by name, said in a written statement that lawmakers have "a responsibility to treat all visitors just as we expect to be treated — with dignity and respect."

"Anything else reflects poorly on the entire body and distracts from the very important work in front of us," said Straus, R-San Antonio.

Muslims in 2015 were also greeted by protesters outside the Capitol, and Esmail said he expects to see the same this year.

"The way I look at it is the protesters are just as welcome as we are," he said. "They should be allowed to protest as long as they let us do our thing."