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Flags fly at half staff in honor of Harris County Precinct 4 Deputy Constable Maher Husseini as community members and law enforcement gather for funeral prayers at Masjid Al Salem Mosque, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Spring. Husseini was shot and killed in his vehicle while heading to work along Richmond Avenue on Tuesday, Sept. 3, in southwest Houston.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Faizan Atiq remembers a time when his neighbor, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, stood with Fort Bend County\u2019s sizable Muslim community<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the county\u2019s Republican sheriff, Nehls touted his connections with prominent local mosques such as the Maryam Islamic Center, where Atiq worships, as part of what made Fort Bend \u201cone of the safest counties<\/a>\u201d in Texas. When Nehls ran for Congress in 2020, he established a \u201cMuslim Americans for Nehls\u201d coalition<\/a>, saying the community\u2019s \u201ccontributions to American society\u201d were \u201cimmeasurable.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, though, anti-Islamic rhetoric has risen to the top of the GOP platform<\/a>, and Nehls co-sponsored the \u201cNo Shari\u2019a Act\u201d introduced by U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney. The bill would prohibit the application of Sharia law in America, though \u201cSharia\u201d merely refers to the religious and ethical guidance of Islam<\/a> and is not codified into any American legal system.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans ramp up anti-Sharia rhetoric. Religion scholars call it a distortion.<\/a><\/p>\n Houston-area Muslims say Nehls and other elected Republicans have betrayed tens of thousands of their constituents as GOP politicians use ordinary developments like new halal restaurants or mosques to warn of an \u201cIslamic takeover of Texas\u201d and signal their intent to make the issue a focus of the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n What was once a fringe position for Republicans has firmly taken hold in the halls of power, as GOP leaders consider ways<\/a> to clamp down on Muslims\u2019 ability to publicly practice their faith, such as by blocking Muslim-led developments<\/a> and religious accommodations<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the diverse Houston region, Atiq said his representatives\u2019 failure to publicly defend their Muslim constituents speaks volumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel abandoned for sure,\u201d Atiq said.<\/p>\n Nehls\u2019 office didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Bend Republicans silent<\/p>\n For all of the clamor about the \u201cIslamification of Texas,\u201d Muslims make up just 2% of the state\u2019s population, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the Houston area\u2019s Muslim population has grown in recent decades, particularly in Harris and Fort Bend counties, which were home to a combined 74 mosques in 2020, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fort Bend is especially religiously diverse, said Kerby Goff, a religion researcher at Rice University. Muslims account for about 6% of the population there and have developed positive relationships with other faith communities in the area, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike in Harris County, however, most of Fort Bend County\u2019s legislative delegation is Republican, putting the lawmakers in an awkward position between the party line and the demographic reality of their districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n State Rep. Gary Gates, R-Richmond, said he\u2019s not sure what Sharia law is and isn\u2019t aware of anyone trying to codify it into Texas law. But he stopped short of denouncing his party\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are issues that other people have that may not be my priority, but if they feel passionate about it then go for it, present a bill and see if you\u2019ve got the votes,\u201d Gates said. \u201cIf some Republicans who live in a different area of the state where there is more of an attempt for Sharia law, I could see where that might be offensive to some and if they want to put some limits, good for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Bend Rep. Gary Gates answers Pleasantville residents\u2019 concerns over his purchase of the Pleasant Village Apartments during a town hall meeting Saturday, March 5, 2022, in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yi-Chin Lee, Photographer \/ Staff photographer<\/p>\n State Rep. Stan Kitzman, R-Pattison, whose district covers a sliver of Fort Bend County and is part of a Sharia Free Texas Caucus that state House members formed this year, lost his primary for reelection in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Kitzman and two other Republican state lawmakers whose districts overlap Fort Bend County \u2014 Rep. Matt Morgan and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst \u2014 did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican whose district extends into Fort Bend, touted her 2017 bill that bans Sharia or \u201cother foreign legal systems\u201d from being used in Texas family courts. She signaled support for further measures to \u201cvigorously defend Texas sovereignty\u201d from \u201cany foreign legal system\u201d in the legislative session that starts in January.<\/p>\n RICE SURVEY: Houston survey finds diversity is top draw, but crime and traffic worry residents<\/a><\/p>\n Muslims have become part of the fabric of Fort Bend County, making the lack of support from the area\u2019s Republican officials feel like a betrayal, said Sameeha Rizvi, the Texas Policy and Advocacy Coordinator of CAIR Action, the political arm of the Council on American Islamic Relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizvi, 25, was born and raised in Fort Bend County, attended the University of Texas at Austin and knows no other home but Texas.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThere are people that are so proud about being Texan but they aren\u2019t indigenous or native to this land, they also came from another country or continent,\u201d Rizvi said. \u201cWhat makes you able to say that I am less Texan than you, because I follow a different faith or my skin color looks different?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n GOP focus on Muslims<\/p>\n The extent to which anti-Islamic fervor has gripped the GOP was evident earlier this summer<\/a> at the Texas Republican Party Convention, hosted at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott said in his address that the party needed \u201cto leave no doubt by totally banning Sharia law\u201d in the 2027 legislative session, and there were multiple panels on \u201cSharia law\u201d that framed the fight against Islam as a battle for the soul of Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Muslim Republican delegates were told they had no place in the party<\/a>, and Muslim state Reps. Suleman Lalani, D-Sugar Land, and Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, were pictured in a presentation that said \u201cTexas or Pakistan? Your state is being radically transformed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lalani said the incident stood in stark contrast to his experience in Fort Bend County, where Republicans historically have courted Muslim support because of their voting power.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur growing population and influence in business and civic organizations made us very attractive to the GOP,\u201d Lalani said. \u201cBut now they still ask to come to the mosque while remaining silent when Abbott, (Attorney General Ken)\u00a0Paxton\u00a0and others attack our community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The convention was just one example of Republican lawmakers using the increased visibility of Muslims in Texas to push claims that they\u2019re imposing Sharia law on the state.<\/p>\n Some 38 Republicans in the state House this year formed the Sharia Free Caucus, including Kitzman and four other lawmakers from the Houston area: Rep. Briscoe Cain, R- Deer Park, Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, Steve Toth, R-Woodlands, and Terri Leo Wilson, R- Galveston.<\/p>\n OPINION: Islamophobia polled well in the GOP primaries. That could get Texans killed.<\/a><\/p>\n Once the focus of far-right politicians like former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French, the issue burst into the mainstream early last year when Abbott launched a regulatory attack<\/a> on the East Plano Islamic Center, which was developing a large master-planned community known as \u201cEPIC City\u201d around a mosque in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abbott also designated CAIR<\/a>, the Muslim civil rights group, a terrorist organization \u2013 something CAIR stringently denies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barely a year after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for French to leave the party<\/a> over his \u201cantisemitism and religious bigotry,\u201d the party has coalesced around French<\/a> \u2014 who has said the GOP should openly embrace Islamophobia<\/a> and remove Muslims from the state \u2014 in his race for Railroad Commissioner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Patrick has made \u201cpreventing Sharia law\u201d the first interim charge<\/a> he gave the Texas Senate ahead of the 2027 legislative session, and lawmakers\u00a0have proposed bans<\/a> on halal foods and hijabs in an effort to make Muslims\u2019 lives \u201cmiserable<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n More recently, Abbott forced DFW Airport to abandon plans for an ablution room which would allow Muslims to wash before prayer, and has attempted to make Bush International Airport in Houston do the same<\/a>. He has asked the Department of Justice<\/a> to investigate both airports.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ablution room at George Bush Intercontinental Airport has come under fire from Gov. Greg Abbott, who claims it’s an\u00a0example of religious discrimination.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adrian Ashford\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n While attacks against Muslims are sure to alienate some voting blocs, including Muslims themselves, Republican strategist Vinny Minchillo said it\u2019s savvy politics for a party trying to rally its base ahead of the November midterms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Developments like EPIC City strike fear into conservative voters who are quick to believe claims that Muslims are building a \u201cSharia compound,\u201d as Abbott described the development, in their backyard, he said.<\/p>\n POLITICAL ATTACKS: Rep. Chip Roy calls out growth of Islam in Texas during Sharia law hearing<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a legitimate fear,\u201d Minchillo said. \u201cWhether (Sharia law) is happening or not, I couldn\u2019t tell you, but are people afraid of it? Yes, 100%, and perception is reality.\u201d<\/p>\n The focus on \u201cSharia law\u201d is a distraction from actual issues that have taken root over 30 years of Republican leadership, said Nabila Mansoor, executive director of the Asian Texans for Justice Action Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re fighting high inflation, an economy that is going south and our school systems need a lot of work,\u201d said Mansoor, a Fort Bend resident. \u201cBut let\u2019s not do that, let\u2019s take one community and vilify them so we don\u2019t actually have to answer to the community for all the failures that we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n Muslims targeted in public<\/p>\n The primary uproar over \u201cSharia law\u201d in Texas has occurred in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is also home to a growing number of Muslims.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, hundreds of McKinney residents packed the Dallas suburb\u2019s city council chambers for a routine meeting to approve the expansion of a local mosque. An elderly woman physically accosted a former McKinney mayor for speaking in defense of the mosque and Texas Monthly reported<\/a> that Muslim speakers were called \u201cpigs\u201d and \u201cdogs\u201d by others at the hearing.<\/p>\n Self, the McKinney congressman, spoke against the expansion, as did the city\u2019s GOP state representative, Keresa Richardson.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe must STOP the spread of Sharia in Texas,\u201d Self wrote on X<\/a> in a post about the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston hasn\u2019t been exempt from incidents of bigotry.\u00a0<\/p>\n READ MORE: Houston Muslims celebrate\u00a0Eid with enhanced security measures after San Diego mosque shooting<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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