{"id":357718,"date":"2026-07-01T20:25:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/357718\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:25:33","slug":"east-plano-islamic-center-lawsuit-against-state-funeral-agency-can-proceed-judge-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/357718\/","title":{"rendered":"East Plano Islamic Center lawsuit against state funeral agency can proceed, judge says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The East Plano Islamic Center<\/a>\u2019s lawsuit against the Texas agency that regulates funerals can go forward, a federal judge has ruled. The agency had ordered the mosque to halt its religious funeral services last year.<\/p>\n

In a 26-page opinion issued last week, the judge denied a request from the former head of the agency to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that EPIC, as the mosque is known, has provided sufficient evidence to allege that its constitutional rights may have been violated.<\/p>\n

The judge also wrote that no evidence has been presented to suggest the mosque is conducting burial rites that threaten Texas law.<\/p>\n

Attorneys representing the mosque in the case did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the mosque\u2019s religious leader. Attorneys representing the state and the Office of the Attorney General did not respond to messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The mosque provides religious funeral rites, including washing and shrouding the body and performing the\u00a0Janaza, an Islamic funeral prayer, court documents said. EPIC, one of the largest mosques in North Texas, said it partners with licensed funeral providers to transport deceased members and provides the rites at no charge.<\/p>\n

Related: Ken Paxton files third lawsuit tied to ‘EPIC City’ development<\/a><\/p>\n

In court documents, EPIC said the rites must be performed promptly after a Muslim person\u2019s death in accordance with Islamic religious tradition.\u00a0
The Texas Funeral Services Commission regulates the funeral industry in the state.<\/p>\n

In March 2025, the funeral commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to the mosque, according to court documents. The commission ordered the mosque to stop what it alleged were unlicensed funeral services, and the commission accused the mosque of operating a funeral home without a license.<\/p>\n

EPIC said it was not running a business or embalming, but stopped its religious funeral rites at the time. According to court documents, EPIC said the cease-and-desist letter resulted in at least 11\u00a0congregants being buried without receiving Janaza prayers at their home mosque.<\/p>\n

Related: EPIC mosque in Plano seeks to meet ‘hatred with love,’ continue outreach despite protests<\/a><\/p>\n

Citing letters from the commission written in 1987 and 2014, the mosque said it follows longstanding rules for religious organizations. According to the letters, the mosque said, religious organizations in Texas can perform burial-related activities without being a licensed agency as long as they do not receive financial compensation.<\/p>\n

The mosque said its constitutional rights under the First Amendment and 14th Amendment were violated, and it is seeking a permanent injunction to keep the state from taking further action against its funeral services. It is seeking an unspecified financial award in damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commission\u2019s actions forced EPIC to suspend sacred funeral rites, chilled its exercise of religion, and caused funeral homes to refuse to transport remains to EPIC for religious services\u2014effectively barring Muslim families from practicing their faith in the moments that matter most,\u201d court documents said.<\/p>\n

On July 2, 2025, the mosque filed its lawsuit. Court documents say on July 16, 2025, the day before a hearing on the case, the funeral commission sent a letter to the mosque that the agency said sought to clarify its March cease-and-desist order.<\/p>\n

That communication said in accordance with \u201clongstanding policy\u201d the mosque, as a religious organization, could engage in certain religious practices as long as the mosque does not take compensation, including performing the Janaza prayer, assisting families with finding a licensed funeral establishment, and washing and shrouding the body.<\/p>\n

But the mosque said in court documents it continues to seek relief through the courts.<\/p>\n

The funeral commission\u2019s cease-and-desist letter came shortly after Texas politicians, including\u00a0Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, began opposing the proposed development of a Muslim-centric neighborhood<\/a> near Josephine. Previously known as EPIC City, the project, which has\u00a0stalled<\/a> due to legal battles, has since been renamed The Meadow.<\/p>\n

Members of the EPIC mosque formed the group behind the development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: HUD to investigate planned D-FW Muslim-centric neighborhood<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristin Tips, the former chair of the commission who is named in the lawsuit, is no longer in her position, the Houston Chronicle<\/a> reported in April.<\/p>\n

Court records list the Office of the Attorney General of Texas as Tips\u2019 legal representation in the case. The office did not respond to a question sent via email asking whether the office is still representing Tips.<\/p>\n

Tips did not immediately respond to messages left at her email address and voicemails left at her funeral home business, Mission Park Funeral Chapels, Cemeteries & Crematories. The Texas Funeral Service Commission also did not respond to messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, EPIC argued that Tips demonstrated a hostility to Islam around the time the commission was pursuing enforcement against EPIC when she sent text messages to the commission\u2019s executive director that contained misleading claims about Islam<\/a>. The text messages were first reported by the Chronicle, which obtained the text messages through a public records request.<\/p>\n

\u201cCourt finds that the provided context illustrates plausible bias [in] Tips\u2019s alleged targeting of EPIC,\u201d Judge David Ezra, a district judge for the Western District of Texas, wrote. Ezra was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n

Tips filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January, and Ezra wrote in his opinion that EPIC has \u201csufficiently alleged\u201d Tips’ personal involvement in the cease-and-desist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court finds that targeting an organization\u2019s religious funeral rites for prohibition while allowing similar rites by others and departing from long-standing\u00a0TFSC practice violates EPIC\u2019s Free Exercise and Equal Protection rights,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s ruling is not final in the case, but Ezra wrote that the funeral commission\u2019s cease-and-desist letter lacked explanation for what guidelines or Texas law the mosque allegedly violated. The judge cited the political backlash against the planned neighborhood development and \u201c\u2018the perceived threat accompanying the rise in the Texan Muslim population” as context to the commission\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

In a footnote in his order, Ezra also suggested he rejects claims that say the mosque is practicing so-called \u201cSharia law\u201d that violates state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout purporting to be an expert in Islamic teachings, the Court simply notes the absence of any evidence or allegation that Islamic burial rites qualify as \u2018Sharia law\u2019 of the sort that threaten Texas law,\u201d Ezra wrote.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The East Plano Islamic Center\u2019s lawsuit against the Texas agency that regulates funerals can go forward, a federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[127122,49763,127124,38358,25191,127120,127125,160,162,161,127121,27,127123],"class_list":["post-357718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-burial-rites","tag-court-documents","tag-david-ezra","tag-east-plano-islamic-center","tag-funeral-services","tag-funerals","tag-janaza","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-religious-organizations","tag-texas","tag-the-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}