The hostility began in a political arena but has found its way into grocery stores, university campuses, and elementary school playgrounds across Texas. Muslims across the state report that inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials is bleeding into daily interactions, creating an environment where threats and harassment have become routine.
Naila Syed, a Dallas mother and member of the Islamic Center of North America Council for Social Justice, watched her two young daughters return home from school with talking points they had memorized about how Islam supposedly treats women poorly. Other students had been primed with these arguments, ready to deploy them against Muslim classmates. "To have a kid who has these points ready and memorized like this is just very concerning as a parent," Syed said.
The cascade of anti-Muslim sentiment has left many feeling unsafe. Some residents have stopped venturing out alone. Others who requested anonymity cited threats and online harassment as reasons for their caution. At the Texas GOP convention earlier this year, Muslim attendees including official delegates were told to convert to Christianity or leave the country. Days later, a woman was recorded verbally attacking two Muslim women in a grocery store, declaring that "Islam is a terrorist organization, not a religion" and asserting "This is not a Muslim country, this is a Christian country."
That woman's fundraiser has collected nearly $145,000, with support from Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace. The message from prominent lawmakers has been unrelenting. Mace and congressman Brandon Gill have introduced legislation to bar immigration from Muslim-majority nations and repeatedly invoked Europe as a warning of what unchecked Muslim immigration produces. Gill sent constituents an email titled "Stop Islamic Immigration Now or Our Children Will Pay the Price," claiming he has watched Dallas-Fort Worth communities transform in troubling ways. On Fox News, he escalated the rhetoric further, suggesting that without immigration restrictions, "my daughter and daughters across the country who are going to public schools wearing burqas."
The Republican Party of Texas has enshrined similar positions in its official platform. At the June convention, lawmakers adopted "Don't Sharia Our Texas" as a legislative priority, effectively calling for the criminalization of Sharia law. Experts have repeatedly noted that no individual or institution in Texas has attempted to implement Sharia law. The term itself encompasses far more than jurisprudence; it refers to a moral code derived from the Quran that guides followers of Islam through daily life.
One Muslim attendee at the convention, who requested anonymity after experiencing subsequent online attacks, witnessed firsthand the hostility on display. He said he did not resent all Republicans because some came to his defense, but he was shaken by the repeated assertions that Muslims were terrorists and did not belong in the country. "We care about the issues that every single American cares about," he said. "We are family people, we are fathers, we are husbands, we are employees, we are employers. This is not the America I believe in, but I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere."
The anti-Muslim sentiment has also infiltrated education debates. At a state board of education hearing in Austin, Syed attended a session where the board debated revisions to social studies standards. At least half a dozen speakers objected to lessons about Muslim civilizations and Islam's role in world history. The proposed rewrite emphasizes American exceptionalism and Judeo-Christian influences while scaling back instruction on slavery, segregation, civil rights, and world cultures. The board, controlled by Republicans, advanced the proposal. Syed, sitting visibly in the audience wearing a hijab, felt participants were speaking about Muslims rather than to them. "I was just in shock," she said. "I would just look at them and be like, 'Hello, I'm right here. I'm a visible Muslim. I wear the hijab.'"
Green Party candidate Shehla Faizi, running for state comptroller, sees the pattern as one of escalating demonization. "It starts with demonizing one group, and then it moves on to another group, another minority group, and another minority group and so on," she said. Faizi noted that Texas has only two Muslim legislators and described how racism functions as a form of psychological suppression. "It cause people to shrink themselves in a sense in their everyday lives... you are shrinking yourself to just be sure that you are not attacked."
Syed's organization has tried repeatedly to secure meetings with members of Texas's "Sharia Free" caucus to explain what Sharia actually means and open respectful dialogue, but those requests have gone unanswered. Both Syed and Faizi emphasized that Muslims should not bear sole responsibility for addressing the racism directed at them.
Dr. Suleman Lalani, one of Texas's two Muslim state legislators, founded the state house's interfaith caucus in response to politicians weaponizing religion. In June, he hosted a panel in Houston titled "the politicization of faith" that brought together imams, rabbis, reverends, and lawmakers for community dialogue. "Ignorance leads to fear, and fear leads to hate," Lalani told the audience. "When we engage with one another, we learn from each other, raise awareness, unite, and make progress."
Democratic state representative Christian Manuel from southeast Texas offered a sharper assessment. "We are all being used as a tool," he said. "They are weaponizing people's ignorance."
Author James Rodriguez: "This is what happens when political leaders abandon guardrails for cheap applause, and everyone downstream pays the price."
Comments