A planned Muslim residential community named EPIC City in Texas has received significant media attention, with some Texas officials claiming it will be an Islamic city or governed by Sharia law.
The developers and Muslim American groups deny these claims and say it will be a “Muslim neighborhood” and not a separately-governed space.
So what is true?
EPIC city is a planned large-scale development project in Texas, promoted by a private development group associated with the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) area community.
The “city” is a plan to develop a 402-acre tract of land in Hunt and Collin Counties that, when built, will host more than 1,000 residential lots, a faith-based K-12 school, commercial and retail centers, and a mosque. It has now been quietly rebranded “The Meadow.”
It is not a new city, and will not have its own government. It will remain under Texas state law.
Marketing materials lead to HUD investigation
However, marketing materials that promoted the development have referred to it as an exclusively “Muslim community” that will serve as “the epicenter of Islam in America.”
This prompted the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) to launch an investigation to determine whether EPIC City’s plans violated the Fair Housing Act by engaging in religious and national-origin discrimination.
This included reviews into whether the project used discriminatory financial terms that required lot owners to subsidize a mosque and Islamic educational centers.
“It is deeply concerning that the East Plano Islamic Center may have violated the Fair Housing Act and participated in religious discrimination,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner.
“As HUD Secretary, I will not stand for illegal religious or national origin discrimination in housing and will ensure that this matter receives a thorough investigation so that this community is open to all Texans.”
Texas state officials, Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have been repeatedly attempting to block the project, believing it to be a potential for Sharia law.
Paxton has filed multiple active lawsuits against them, including for securities fraud and illegal maneuvers involving their municipal utility district. These are multiple separate cases, and there is no single unified case against EPIC City.
Abbott has already directed multiple state agencies to get to the bottom of it. He claimed that the Texas Rangers also opened up a criminal investigation.
“Sharia law is not allowed in Texas,” he has said on multiple occasions.
Last week, Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled that the Texas Workforce Commission must honor a settlement agreement and back off its fair housing scrutiny of EPIC City.
This was after EPIC filed an underlying lawsuit to force the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”) to approve certain fair housing documents despite an ongoing federal investigation involving EPIC.
Abbott, however, said on X/Twitter Thursday, “This erroneous court ruling has already been appealed and halted. Additionally, the so-called city is the subject of other litigation and countless investigations. It will never see the light of day.”
Paxton has appealed the ruling, suspending the temporary injunction pending appeal, and ensuring that the Texas Workforce Commission will not be forced to take unlawful action while the case proceeds.
“Following my appeal of the flawed ruling that would have required the Texas Workforce Commission to unlawfully approve fair housing documents for EPIC, I am glad to see that the developers will not receive such services as this lawsuit is proceeding,” said Attorney General Paxton.
“EPIC city developers have sought out any possible way to evade the law and further their development scheme. I will be relentless in ensuring that any attempt by EPIC City to move its development forward in violation of the law is stopped.”
On the same day, a state court judge in Collin County temporarily blocked further actions by a utility district slated to serve EPIC City.
“The state is just asking for a pause until we can figure out what’s going on,” Wesley Williams with the Texas attorney general’s office told Judge Nowak. “There’s a lot of secrecy surrounding this board.”
The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) has, however, defended the project and called the allegations against it “Islamophobic witch hunts and politically driven regulatory harassment.”
In a statement on Thursday, CAIR-Tx said: “For over a year, state leaders have abused their authority in a bigoted attempt to deny Texas Muslims their constitutional right to develop an inclusive, family-oriented community.”
“We applaud the court for holding state agencies accountable and recognizing that the law applies equally to everyone, including the State of Texas.”
According to archived materials found by The Jerusalem Post, the project has moved from public-facing to more private over the last year, likely due to the public scrutiny.
While its website is currently inactive, its February 2023 site described the project as “a safe purpose-built community to serve the growing needs of the Muslim community.”
In the investor pitch, now also not available, it said that anyone wishing to purchase a lot must note that the “price of the lots covers land purchase cost, land development of roads and utilities, construction of EPIC 2.0 Masjid [mosque], and Construction of EPIC QCA School.
It also said that while many owners are free to choose any financing institution they prefer, “to provide convenience for our investors, we are working with Islamic Financing companies to ensure that Islamic Financing is available.”
Elsewhere, the terms and conditions say the developer intends to donate portions of the Land to EPIC for the mosque and the private school, and also intends to donate to EPIC 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of Lots to the mosque.
The developer is essentially saying: “We will build the infrastructure, sell the lots, and give the profits and some land to EPIC to support its mosque and school.”
None of this is outright illegal. However, it becomes illegal if people are excluded based on religion. Any project must also comply with fair housing, zoning, and development regulations.
What does this mean? A project cannot require buyers to be Muslim, it cannot exclude non-Muslims, it cannot advertise it as “Muslim-only housing,” and it cannot enforce religious membership as a condition of ownership.
Additionally, if buyers are indirectly funding a religious institution through land purchases, regulators may assess whether risks are clearly disclosed and whether profits are properly marketed.
It is this aspect that Abbott and Paxton have been investigating.
One of the main figures, the face of the project, is Yasir Qadhi (formerly Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi), who is both the dean of The Islamic Seminary of America and resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center.
A former Salafist, he was criticized in 2010 for saying “Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews” and “that Hitler never actually intended to massacre the Jews, he actually wanted to expel them to neighboring lands.” He later apologized for this and went on a trip to Auschwitz as part of a delegation.
Regarding EPIC City, Qadhi said it will be a “role model community of thousands of Muslims living well-integrated.”
“We are not forming a cult. We’re not forming big barriers between the rest of society. We’re going to be giving back to this state and this country, and we’re going to be showing what it means to be a Muslim neighborhood.”
Source:
www.jpost.com
