{"id":446612,"date":"2026-09-24T20:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/446612\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:44:20","slug":"texas-muslims-push-back-against-rise-of-anti-islam-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/446612\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Muslims push back against rise of anti-Islam rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Hussein, a self-identified conservative and practicing Muslim, went to the Texas Republican convention this year seeking common ground.<\/p>\n

Instead, during a panel discussion about Judeo-Christian values, he was told to convert to Christianity \u2014 or leave the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The encounter left Hussein disillusioned with the current Texas Republican Party, he said during a panel discussion at the Texas Tribune Festival Thursday, and wondering, though he identifies as a conservative, whether he still has a place in the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t recognize conservatism when I see the Texas Republican Party or this language,\u201d Hussein said. \u201cHow do you demonize a religion and be a conservative? It doesn\u2019t make sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hussein\u2019s remarks came during a panel discussion on what it means to be Muslim in Texas today, moderated by the Tribune\u2019s newsletter writer Yasmeen Khalifa. Anti-Muslim rhetoric has surged during the past two years as Texas Republicans have increasingly made a litany of moves to target the state\u2019s Muslim population.<\/p>\n

Some of those actions include: <\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> and Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> targeted the developers of a master-planned North Texas community marketed to Muslims, who initiated multiple investigations on the grounds the development was discriminatory on religious grounds. <\/p>\n

Last year, Abbott declared the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, a terrorist organization<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Abbott also threatened to withhold funding from major airports<\/a> in Dallas and Houston because washing stations used by Muslims before prayer at the airfields are illegal. <\/p>\n

The Texas State Board of Education in August greenlit a rewrite of the state\u2019s social studies curriculum that paints Islam in a negative light.<\/p>\n

In ads and on the campaign trail, Texas Republicans have increasingly deployed anti-Muslim rhetoric to mobilize conservatives in a tough election cycle.<\/p>\n

Republicans, including Abbott, have said they\u2019re trying to stop Islam from being given special treatment compared with other religions and prevent the spread of sharia law, a term for Muslims\u2019 religious way of life. Conservatives have insisted sharia is a competing legal framework incompatible with state and national laws, a view Muslim leaders and scholars reject as a willful misreading of sharia. <\/p>\n

Living in Texas as a Muslim has largely been a good experience, the panelists agreed, but hostility against Muslims is clearly on the rise. Zeeshan Hafeez, a tech executive who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for a Dallas-area congressional seat, recounted an instance in which he and his family had to leave an Austin pizza restaurant to escape a racist encounter with a man who was physically threatening them.<\/p>\n

Since his run-in at the Texas GOP convention, Hussein said he \u201cexperienced several months where I felt like a stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how many people are carrying this belief or sentiment that Muslims should convert or leave and are just not telling me,\u201d Hussein said. \u201cNevertheless, I believe that this is an aberration. I know that my Texan neighbors do not really desire this, and I know that we\u2019re better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdullah Antepli, president of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, painted the rise in visible Islamophobia \u2014 as well in anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia \u2014 as a threat to democracy and all Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you make hating one community kosher permissible, once you mainstream dehumanization for any minority, that doesn\u2019t stay with that minority,\u201d Antepli said. \u201cIt affects the entire society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans, in particular, have left Muslim Texans out to dry, panelists said. Antepli and four other Muslim scholars circulated an op-ed they wrote pushing back against Republican rhetoric regarding Sharia law among Texas lawmakers and pushing legislators to meet with them, Antepli said. Not a single Republican welcomed a conversation with them, Antepli said.<\/p>\n

There are bright spots, panelists said. Hafeez name-checked Frisco Mayor Mark Hill, a Republican who took office this year, as a Republican who \u201chas stood on the right side of history and spoken up against the hatred and vitriol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combating Islamophobia will take a multi-pronged effort to educate people about Islam and have serious and difficult interfaith conversations. If Muslims push back against racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism within their community, Antepli said, they\u2019ll gain credibility in pushing against anti-Muslim rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Hafeez suggested taking friends and relatives who fear Islam to a mosque, or a Yemeni chai shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average Muslim is your doctor,\u201d Hafeez said. \u201cThe average Muslim is your teacher. The average Muslim is your neighbor who is just trying to be a part of the American fabric.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[392,11672,1967,1968,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-446612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-greg-abbott","tag-islam","tag-ken-paxton","tag-religion","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446612","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=446612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}