Texas Governor Weighs In on Proposed City Described as the ‘Epicenter of Islam’ in Rural Texas

Critics worry that the project would attract a large Muslim population that would adhere to sharia and reject assimilating. Sharia Law cannot coexist with the US Constitution.

JOSEPHINE, Texas—Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday that a proposed 402-acre city advertised as the “epicenter of Islam in America” to be built outside a rural Texas town won’t be allowed.

Abbott responded on Feb. 24 to an internet video for the proposed EPIC City and EPIC Ranches near the town of Josephine, Texas, about 40 miles east of Dallas, saying the project wouldn’t be allowed based on an advertisement for the planned development.

The video, which has more than 1 million views on X, prompted concerns from some on social media that sharia, which is law based on Islamic principles, would be used within the 1,000-home development.

“To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” Abbott said on X.

“Bottom line—the project as proposed in the video is not allowed in Texas.”

The issue gained traction after Amy Mek, founder of the RAIR Foundation and an Islam critic, posted several videos of the project, including one from Yasir Qadhi, a Pakistani American Muslim theologian at the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), who spoke on the launch of the EPIC Ranches.

According to documents about the project, the East Plano Islamic Center contracted for the 402 acres and will assign the contract to Community Capital Partners for development.

Mek and others on social media raised concerns that the development would become a “walled-off Islamic community built around Sharia, not American values.”

The RAIR Foundation defines itself as a grassroots activist organization working to “reclaim our Republic from the network of individuals and organizations waging war on Americans, our Constitution, our borders, and our Judeo-Christian values.”

Mek said the community would be a “self-contained Islamic economy and infrastructure,” which would result in the exclusion of non-Muslims.

After Abbott’s comment, EPIC Ranches stated on social media platform X that the development was “to build a diverse, safe, and inclusive community—one in which people of every background, faith, and culture can live together in harmony.”

“It should go without saying that our community, like any other in this great state, will follow all local, state, and federal laws. We would love for you to see the site and learn about our project over some Hutchins BBQ,” it said.

By Darlene McCormick Sanchez

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