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The Battle Over "EPIC City": A Conservative Concern About Culture, Law, and Taxpayer Funding in North Texas
In the rolling countryside near Josephine, Texas, about 40 miles northeast of Dallas, a battle is brewing that cuts to the heart of what it means to be an American community. The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) has proposed a sprawling, 400-acre development called "EPIC City"—a planned community that would include over 1,000 homes, a large mosque, Islamic schools, clinics, shops, and even a nursing home . To its supporters, it is a chance for a growing religious community to put down roots. But to a growing number of conservative Texans including Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Senator John Cornyn it represents a deeply troubling proposition that warrants serious scrutiny .
From a conservative perspective, the concerns surrounding EPIC City are not rooted in bigotry, but in principle: the defense of American law, the protection of constitutional rights for all citizens, and the fundamental question of whether taxpayer dollars should ever flow to organizations with leaders who have expressed extremist views.
The "Sick Views" of the Preacher Behind the Plan
The most immediate cause for alarm centers on the spiritual leader of the community: Yasir Qadhi, the resident scholar at EPIC. Qadhi, a Pakistani-American born in Texas who was educated at the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia and later at Yale, is a highly influential figure in American Muslim circles . But his past rhetoric, captured on tape and reported by outlets like the Daily Mail and the Middle East Forum, is deeply disturbing to anyone who holds to Western values of tolerance and equality.
In recordings from the early 2000s, Qadhi explicitly endorsed the stoning of adulterers and the execution of homosexuals as integral parts of his religious worldview. "This is a part of our religion, to stone the adulterer … and to kill, by the way, the homosexual. This is also our religion," he is heard saying in a sermon . While Qadhi has since attempted to walk back these comments, dismissing them as the mistakes of a "young and naïve" man, the sentiments reveal a foundational belief system that is fundamentally at odds with the American way of life.
Conservatives are right to ask: Is this the man who will set the moral and cultural tone for a new city in Texas? While Qadhi has reportedly said such punishments are not suitable for America—stating, "No, we're not allowed to do this in America... But I'm saying if we had an Islamic State, we would do this now"—the distinction offers little comfort . It suggests that the only thing preventing the implementation of this draconian system is geography, not a change of heart.
"Sharia Cities" Have No Place in Texas
Governor Abbott has been the most prominent voice pushing back against the project, and his language has been intentionally stark. "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," he wrote on social media . He has since opened multiple state investigations into the project for potential criminal activity and violations of fair housing laws, and even ordered the group to halt construction.
Critics, including the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, dismiss concerns over Sharia law as a "conspiracy theory" and "fearmongering" . They argue that Sharia is simply a personal religious code governing prayer and fasting. But this is a willful misreading of the term. Sharia law, in its traditional interpretation, is a comprehensive legal and political system. When a community is designed explicitly around a mosque and Islamic institutions, with a leader who has preached the death penalty for sexual minorities, it is not unreasonable to worry about the eventual social pressure such an environment creates.
Americans have a proud tradition of religious freedom, but that freedom exists within the framework of the U.S. Constitution. It does not include the right to create parallel legal systems or to establish communities that, through social or religious pressure, effectively discriminate against those who do not share the faith. As Senator Cornyn noted when requesting a federal investigation, there is a real concern that such a project "could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans" by effectively barring them from living there.
Initial advertisements for the community reportedly suggested that buyers would be restricted to those who "contribute to the overall makeup of [the] community," a dog whistle that was later scrubbed from the website after media inquiries . Actions speak louder than words. If the goal was truly an "open" community, why was the initial language exclusionary?
Your Tax Dollars at Work: The Plano Payouts
Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this saga for Texas taxpayers is the revelation that their money has been used to fund the very organization at the center of the controversy. According to official filings, the city of Plano has funneled more than $220,000 to EPIC since 2016 Shockingly, a grant of nearly $143,000 was provided as recently as May 2025 just weeks after state investigators opened probes into the group’s activities .
This is a betrayal of public trust. Sam Westrop, a researcher with the Middle East Forum, a conservative nonprofit that tracks Islamist movements, argues that Plano officials have been dangerously negligent. "Islamist groups in the West subsist on the foolishness of public officials," he said. "Public funding not only enriches these groups, but gives them legitimacy and power".
It gets worse. Records show that Plano has handed over a staggering $3.8 million to seven Islamic groups flagged by researchers in recent years, including the Islamic Association of Collin County (IACC). The IACC’s imam, Arsalan Haque, has been recorded delivering sermons about how husbands may beat their wives provided it is done in the correct "context" and not "to the extent that they die" .
For conservatives, this is a nightmare scenario. The principle of "religious freedom" does not mean "religious blank check." It is one thing to allow a group to worship freely. It is another thing entirely for a city council to write million-dollar checks to organizations whose leaders preach spousal abuse and the killing of homosexuals. This is not an attack on Islam; it is an attack on the misuse of public funds to prop up illiberal ideologies.
A Question of Assimilation
The developers of EPIC City insist they are being unfairly targeted. Their attorney, Dan Cogdell, called the accusations "political theater" and "fear mongering," stating that the project is just a normal housing development that happens to have a mosque . Developer Imran Chaudhary even invited Governor Abbott to a Texas-style barbeque .
But this misses the point. America has always been a melting pot, but the pot itself has a distinct shape. It is defined by the Constitution, by Judeo-Christian values, and by a tradition of liberal democracy. The concern among conservatives is not that Muslims are moving to Texas; it is that this project, with its history of exclusionary language and its leadership by clerics with extremist pasts, appears to be a move toward *separation* rather than integration.
As the DOJ and state investigators continue their probes, the EPIC City project stands as a defining test for Texas . It forces a difficult conversation about how to balance religious liberty with the need to protect American legal norms. For now, Governor Abbott has drawn a line in the sand. For many conservatives, it is a line that should have been drawn the moment taxpayer money started flowing.