Texas conservatives have seen this movie before: a controversial project sparks statewide outrage… and suddenly its developers scramble for a friendlier name. That’s exactly what happened after Governor Greg Abbott blasted an Islamic group’s plan to build a sprawling “Muslim city” northeast of Dallas—warning it could be a Trojan horse for Sharia law creeping into the Lone Star State.
So what did the East Plano Islamic Community (EPIC) do? They slapped a soft, unthreatening label on it. EPIC City is now “The Meadow.”
Because nothing says nothing to see here, folks quite like a pastoral Hallmark Channel title.
But a name change won’t make Texans forget who’s behind the project—or the alarming history attached to its chief cleric, Yasir Qadhi.
Qadhi’s reputation isn’t exactly “Texas friendly.” For decades, recordings show him preaching extremist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and theocratic views that would make even the most radical ideologues blush.
Audio files from the 2000s capture Qadhi declaring: “This is a part of our religion, to stone the adulterer … and to kill, by the way, the homosexual. This is also our religion.”
In another speech, echoing some of the ugliest propaganda of the 20th century, he claimed the Holocaust was a “hoax,” adding that “Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews,” and encouraged followers to read “The Hoax of the Holocaust.”
He also pushed the bizarre conspiracy that Jewish academics are infiltrating U.S. universities, claiming they make up “95 percent” of Islamic Studies students in a plot to “destroy us.” His words: “Look at them: white, crooked nose, blonde hairs. This is not the descendants of Jacob.”
And while Qadhi publicly insists he no longer holds those beliefs—calling them a “one-time mistake” from when he was “young and naïve”—Texans aren’t exactly lining up to trust a cleric who spent years preaching that America should be governed differently if only Muslims had the power to do so.
After all, in one chilling moment, he said: “This doesn’t mean we go do this in America… But I’m saying if we had an Islamic State, we would do this now.”
That’s exactly the kind of rhetoric that set off alarm bells for Governor Abbott and Republican lawmakers.
When Qadhi’s extremist past resurfaced, Gov. Abbott and other GOP leaders didn’t look the other way. They launched inquiries into the community project—rightly asking whether the proposed “Muslim city” was simply a large housing development or a long-term attempt to build a community governed by Sharia law rather than Texas law.
Counter-extremism expert Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum didn’t mince words either. He warned that Qadhi and EPIC have spent years exporting a rigid, fundamentalist ideology: “Qadhi and his mosque, EPIC, have radicalized generations of Muslims not just in the Dallas area, but across the US.” Any such compound, he said, would only further “advance Sharia and other theocratic threats away from the checks and balances of Texas law and order.”
No matter what they call it—EPIC City or The Meadow—the project’s scale is the same:
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1,000 homes
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A large mosque
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Islamic schools
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Clinics
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Stores
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Parks
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A nursing home
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Located across Collin and Hunt Counties, roughly 40 miles northeast of Dallas
EPIC brags that the properties “sold out fast” and that even bigger ranch-style homes are being added. Construction is projected for 2026 or 2027.
This comes in addition to EPIC’s existing mega-mosque in Plano—large enough for 3,200 worshippers and already surrounded by homes and businesses catering to the community.
EPIC insists on social media that they’re a “law-abiding non-profit” and describe themselves as “multi-ethnic,” “non-sectarian,” and “open to non-Muslims.” But behind closed doors, as those recordings reveal, Qadhi’s private message to followers for years was the opposite of tolerant.
Texas has long welcomed immigrants, religious communities, and diverse groups—but it also fiercely protects American values, state law, and the rights of all citizens.
Is The Meadow simply a master-planned suburban development? Or is it an ideological enclave led by a cleric whose on-record views directly contradict American values—and who only publicly moderated his tone once the spotlight found him?
Texans don’t fear Muslims. They fear extremism—and they won’t apologize for defending their communities against it.
