A proposed development has sparked a whirlwind of controversy, with whispers of Sharia law and a name change that hints at deeper tensions.
Texas Muslim city rebrands with unthreatening new name (Image: NBC News)
An Islamic organisation aiming to build what critics branded a “Muslim city” in eastern Texas has changed the development’s name after Governor Greg Abbott accused them of planning to enforce Sharia law, reports the Daily Mail.
Developers have now shifted from the original name, EPIC City, to The Meadow, the Houston Chronicle reported. The East Plano Islamic Community (EPIC), which is behind the ambitious scheme, remains at the earliest stages and has not filed permits, broken ground or advanced beyond its planning outline. Albeit much larger in scale, the plans echo that of a controversial proposed mosque on the edge of the UK’s Lake District, in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria.
The cleric linked to the project, Yasir Qadhi, has long drawn concern due to a widely-reported and decades-old history of preaching hatred, homophobia and Holocaust denial.
Historic speeches raise questions
Recordings show Qadhi promoting extreme ideas, including a claim that Jewish people infiltrated Islamic studies departments at American universities in an effort to “destroy” Muslims.
Such revelations prompted Abbott and several Republican lawmakers to question whether the development could be used to bring Sharia practices into the state.
Sharia refers to religious law rooted in Islamic scripture, including the Koran and Hadith, and in some nations is associated with capital punishment for offences such as adultery and homosexuality, sometimes by stoning.
EPIC has insisted publicly on social media that it is a law-abiding non-profit, and investigations so far have not uncovered wrongdoing.
Separate audio from the 2000s shows Qadhi calling for the execution of gay people and adulterers, and describing the Holocaust as a “hoax.”
In another clip, he pushes the theory that Jewish people joined religious academic departments in the US to undermine Muslims, reports the Mail.
Yasir Qadhi once said that gay people and adulterers should be put to death under Islam (Image: NBC News)
Debate over changing Texas demographics
The controversy has intensified discussion about Texas’ fast-growing Muslim population, rising fears of Islamophobia, and whether the views of individual clerics place their communities at odds with American values.
Sam Westrop, a counter-extremism analyst at the Middle East Forum who uncovered the recordings, described Qadhi’s followers as a hardline movement seeking to revert society to an ancient era.
“Qadhi and his mosque, EPIC, have radicalized generations of Muslims not just in the Dallas area, but across the US,” Westrop told the Daily Mail.
“Any sort of compound such as EPIC City will serve to radicalize future generations of Muslims.”
Westrop argues that the group aims to “advance Sharia and other theocratic threats away from the checks and balances of Texas law and order.”
Plans for a large new neighbourhood
The proposed development sits around 40 miles northeast of Dallas and is expected to include 1,000 homes, a mosque, Islamic schools, clinics, shops, parks and a nursing home on land spanning Collin and Hunt Counties.
Organisers say the initial wave of properties sold quickly and have since announced larger “ranches” nearby. Construction is projected to start in 2026 or 2027.
EPIC describes itself as a “multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multilingual, non-sectarian, diverse, and open community” that provides opportunities for both men and women and remains open to non-Muslims.
But critics say Qadhi’s private remarks from past decades conflict sharply with the inclusive image the group promotes today.
Recordings reveal harsh rhetoric
In one recording believed to date back to the early 2000s, Qadhi discusses behaviour he says warrants execution under Islam.
“This is a part of our religion, to stone the adulterer … and to kill, by the way, the homosexual. This is also our religion,” he says.
His remarks echo the brutal practices used by Islamic State, which enforced hard-line Sharia in Iraq and Syria and executed gay men by throwing them from buildings.
Qadhi also makes clear that he does not encourage followers to apply those rules in the US.
“This doesn’t mean we go do this in America,” he said. “No, we’re not allowed to do this in America, you know? But I’m saying if we had an Islamic State, we would do this now.”
Comments on Jewish people and Holocaust denial
In another recording, he describes Jewish people as largely of European descent and disconnected from their Biblical ancestors.
“Look at them: white, crooked nose, blonde hairs. This is not the descendants of Jacob,” he says.
He goes on to call the Nazi genocide “false propaganda,” insisting “Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews,” and urges listeners to read “The Hoax of the Holocaust.”
He further claims that Jewish people make up the vast majority of students in Islamic Studies programmes in the US as part of a plan to spread “disunity” among Muslims and “destroy us.”
Qadhi now says comments were youthful extremism
Qadhi has since described his past comments as an “error” and a “one-time mistake,” saying he slipped into extremism when he was “young and naïve.”
The Express emailed Qadhi’s office for comment.
Today he presents a more moderate and polished interpretation of Islam in public, reflecting the beliefs of a global faith followed by around two billion people.
