From the founder
As-salamu alaykum, Y’all.
Being Muslim and being Texan are not opposing identities. There is no contradiction to reconcile.
By Omar Afra ·
TexasMuslim
Research · Explainers · Reporting on Islam and Muslim life in Texas
Opinion
Dinesh D’Souza helped bankroll his political rise. AIPAC’s PAC subsequently backed his campaign. But the congressman’s claims about Muslim belonging run into a stubborn obstacle: the history of Texas itself.
From Testset
Sharia Panic
Reporting and commentary on Islamophobia, religious freedom and Muslim civic life in Texas.
A Testset dossier by Omar Afra.
Open the dossier
Texas, on a plate
Halal barbecue is not a novelty but a growing, deeply rooted Texas tradition. This source-checked directory distinguishes fully halal operators from mixed-menu kitchens offering selected halal meats while honoring the culture behind both approaches.
From the desk
Texas Muslim History
Early African connections, Black Muslim congregations, immigration, music and civic life in Texas.
Faith in everyday life
We are not going to hand you a number we have not measured. What we will do is show the buildings, name them correctly, and say plainly when a photograph is illustrative rather than evidence.
Research
America and Europe Have Different Muslim Migration Histories. Neither Fits the Stereotype.
A European refugee episode cannot stand in for Muslim America. Neither can American professionals erase refugees, family migration or the differences within Europe.
Evidence first. Seasoning second.
Warm language is welcome here. Unsupported assertion is not. Where we cannot support a claim, we say what is missing instead of rounding it up.
What did Texas HB 4211 actually restrict?
Read the statutory scope
How many Muslims live in Texas — and what do the estimates measure?
Dates and methods matter
Does taqiyya give every Muslim permission to lie to non-Muslims?
A specific doctrine is being overgeneralized
Understand the terms
A reference index for words that get thrown around in Texas public argument. Each entry gives a definition, the common misunderstanding, the primary evidence, where Muslims themselves disagree, and why it matters here.
Sharia
Sharia is the broad Islamic idea of a path of right living. It includes worship and ethics as well as questions addressed by jurists; it is not one universally applied statute book.
Fiqh
Fiqh is human jurisprudence: scholarly interpretation of Islamic sources. Distinguishing it from Sharia makes disagreement, reasoning and change visible.
Jihad
Jihad means striving or exertion in relation to God. It has spiritual, ethical and, in some contexts, armed meanings; neither all terrorism nor only inner peace defines it adequately.
Taqiyya
Taqiyya concerns concealment or dissimulation, especially under threat. It is not a general permission for every Muslim to deceive every non-Muslim.
Halal
Halal means permitted in Islamic practice. On a menu it concerns ingredients and preparation, not a cuisine or a requirement that customers adopt a religion.
Sufism
An Islamic tradition of spiritual discipline, remembrance and ethical self-examination—not a separate religion or simply an aesthetic.
50 entries
Every entry is written against primary sources, with the disagreements left visible.
Full glossary
Reference
Texas Mosques & Islamic Associations
A working index of Islamic associations in Texas and the prayer and community spaces they operate, each record built from the operator's own website with the date we read it. Houston and North Texas are first; the rest of the state follows.
- Masjid Bilal · Houston
- Masjid Al-Salam · Spring
- Masjid Maryam · Sugar Land
- Eastside Main Center · Houston
- IANT Masjid · Richardson
Who publishes this
Omar Afra
Texas Muslim was founded and is initially financed by Omar Afra, a Houston-based publisher and cultural entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor. He also publishes Testset and Live Index, and founded Free Press Houston.
He writes and edits here as a publisher, not as a religious authority. Scholarly and legal questions are referred to named outside sources on the page where they arise.
Disclosures
- Sole initial funder: Omar Afra. No outside grants or advertising to disclose.
- Affiliated publications under common ownership: Testset, Live Index.