A Muslim Town in Texas and The St. Louis Gen X Mayoral Race

Texas has a certain appeal. The numbers don’t lie. The state has experienced rapid growth in recent decades and almost all of this growth is in the major metros. Houston has become perhaps the most diverse city in America, Austin holds a certain appeal for white transplants and the tech crowd, and the explosive growth of the Dallas suburbs has been fueled by both American families from other states (particularly California and the Upper Midwest) and immigrants.

For the Muslim community the Dallas metro has become a special place attracting families from throughout America. The aesthetic is suburban, upper middle-class, majority Desi, highly educated, and religiously observant. These suburbs have become one of the leading places in America for the growth of the halal restaurant industry, youth programs, and more. The area is further popularized by the presence of celebrity imams and popular organizations. Imam Omar Suleiman at the Valley Ranch Islamic Center, Sheikh Yasir Qadhi at the East Plano Islamic Center, Nouman Ali Khan at the Bayyinah Institute, Sheikh Abdulnasir Jangda, Mufti Hussain Kamani, and Sheikh Mikaeel Smith at the Qalam Seminary, Abdelrahman Murphy at the Roots “third space”, and more.

I compare Dallas to 1990s Northern Virginia. At that time, NOVA was a hub from Muslims from throughout America, and indeed the world, to relocate to in order to study Islam and participate in the local community. The difference being NOVA Muslims were incredibly racially and ethnically diverse, majority Salafi, reliant on Saudi funding at the time, and had some hard edges of both Ikhwani and Salafi militancy. None of that is the case in Dallas, today.

Dallas suburbs are a hub for the Muslim business, the industry of Islam, Islamic capitalism, however you wanna phrase it. Want a matchmaker to find you a wealthy husband, eat some Dubai chocolate for the ‘gram, sip at a Yemeni coffee house late at night until the lines between halal and haram are blurred, purchase the latest in hijabi fashion, enjoy private Ramadan iftar events with millionaires, then the Dallas suburbs are the place to be!

Within this mix, there is a high-percentage of highly-devout Muslims, who also are high-earners with a lot of disposable income, and thus having a career as an imam or Islamic scholar in the Dallas metro makes a lot of sense. The housing subdivisions of Irving, Southlake, Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Carrollton, and other Dallas suburbs have a lot of Muslims. So, why not buy some land in Texas and make a planned Muslim community?

This is exactly the idea some people affiliated with EPIC and Sheikh Yasir Qadhi had. On the surface, it makes sense. Like every other group, Muslims prefer to live around one another, and this is human nature. American schools have been desegregated since the 1950s and the lunchroom largely remains self-segregated (and this will never change). Imagine being in America and hearing the adhan and having a communal Eid and Ramadan experience with Muslims? No dogs! No alcohol! No loud profane music! No nasty smell of weed! I admit, all of that sounds great to me, personally, but a deeper dig will expose the folly of the idea.

• This is Texas. Greg Abbott is Governor. A combination of Donald Trump and Elon Musk is President. Kash Patel is running the FBI and Tulsi Gabbard is the DNI. While Muslims are now largely on the backburner and ignored, and the pressure of FBI harassment and such has dissipated, this shouldn’t be confused with a lack of animus. Muslims are on the backburner because Trump is focused on border security, migrants, his political enemies, and a myriad of foreign policy pursuits. However, Muslims can certainly move to the frontburner once again if the need arises. Texas is the Bible Belt, not as Evangelical and conservative as it once was, but still more so than states many Muslims moved from. Predictably, Gov. Abbott and Texas conservatives responded to news of the development by stating there is not shariah law in Texas and there aren’t no-go zones. Of course, there is Shariah Law in privates lives and disputes: but not as a matter of public law. This is no different than Canon Law for Catholics and Halakhah for Orthodox Jews. Both have been public law at times and in other places but can exist in America voluntarily and in the private realm. No-go Zones is a made-up term emanating from the UK and other parts of Europe. There is no place in Europe where a non-Muslim can’t walk, reside, or conduct business. Are there places where they wouldn’t feel comfortable? Absolutely. But that is akin to white guys in St. Louis saying they don’t like going to north city or people from Wylie, Texas not wanting to visit south Dallas. Now that bait has been handed to Abbott and Trump, how deep will their teeth sink? That is the question.

• There is already a tried-and-true method of creating religious neighborhoods in America and preserving religious-identity. Walkable urban neighborhoods. Look at Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and mid 20th Century urban Catholic parishes. Doubling down on driving your SUVs to the masjid doesn’t seem like a good idea.

• Communal living for Muslims isn’t a new idea for Muslims in America. This is an idea that has been experimented with since the 1980s. The results have largely been disastrous.

• If one is going to attempt such an idea, which I don't recommend in the first place, try to have some political sophistication and attempt doing to in a Blue State with commitments to diversity. Yes, there are some downsides in what your kids may be taught in the public schools, gun laws, and such, but you’re in a village and should be immune from all of that. Concentrate on having local governments who don’t see immigrants and those of a different religion as a threat.

• Part of the response to this project has been from critics pointing to Europe. This is a mistake and exposes their ignorance. Europe, like Canada and the Biden Administration, grossly mismanaged their immigration system. The volume of immigrants has been far too high, housing resources and job opportunities too few, and, in the case of Europe, has become a hotbed for extremism. None of that is the case in America. The Muslim community here is largely educated and more affluent than the average American. Extremism is present in the US Muslim community, but at the very small fringes. The community proposal in Texas is from a very wealthy community and cannot be compared to the slums of Birmingham and Paris.

Gen X Mayoral Race

Speaking of commitments to diversity and Muslims. I attended a Muslim fundraiser for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones over the weekend. She has continuously demonstrated her support for the local Muslim community and this pre-dates her time as mayor.

When thinking about Mayor Jones and her main opponent, Cara Spencer, I’ve began to think of this race as a Gen X contest. Now, I’m not a huge believer in generations, or think your generation necessarily says a lot about you. One of the easiest ways to see if someone is of a very low level of intelligence is if they constantly shit on boomers. Read The Generation Myth by Bobby Duffy.

However, as I grew-up in St. Louis around the same time as Jones and Spencer, I think we must’ve had some common experiences (Jones is a little older than me and Spencer a little younger). While all of us are now middle-aged, we spent our formative years witnessing the same things.

When I think of Mayor Jones I’m reminded of The Animal House, Rickeys, Saints, nights on the riverfront, Northwest Plaza, Jamestown, Northland, and all of the smart young Black women from St. Louis who went away to HBCUs (most didn’t return, and many were first-generation students inspired by A Different World).

When I think of Spencer, I’m thinking of the kind of kids who may have earlier found punk rock appealing, went on to like grunge and indie rock, and I’m not exactly sure where she would’ve hung out. There was a strong calling among educated and more secular-minded whites of our generation to move back to the city and there was a lot of anti-suburban writing such as Bomb the Suburbs by William Upski Wimsatt. For those in St. Louis, this often meant seeing themselves as urban pioneers and rescuers of a decaying city. Similar to other cities, this demographic tends to bring things such as pricier restaurants, bars short on mainstream beers, indie music venues, dog parks, bike lanes, and a bunch of other shit I have no interest in. At the fringes of this demographic are white leftists, such as DSA members, and then those even further left (normally those from very privileged and affluent backgrounds enacting some form of generational rebellion).

Elections are about policy and performance and they’re also about vibes. I don’t really vibe with the Spencer crowd. A little too unseasoned over there for me. Regardless, I plan to attend the debate between the two on Thursday, and I hope it remains civil and is informative.

Etc

I highly recommend the Brazilian film “I’m Still Here”. We saw this last week and it’s presently playing at the Hi-Pointe for those in St. Louis. An outstanding film about a wife and mother who went onto become a human-rights activist dealing with the abduction of her husband under the Brazilian military dictatorship of the 1970s. The boxing from Saudi Arabia this past weekend was outstanding, thanks to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. I have the feeling Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev could fight ten times and each fight would be extremely close. On my scorecard, Beterbiev won, I think we need a trilogy. The fight of the night was Callum Smith’s hard-fought win over the tough Joshua Buatsi. The stock of Agit Kabayel rose the most, Hamzah Sheeraz needs a little more seasoning, and both heavyweight bouts delivered action. In wrestling news my Oklahoma State Cowboys came up short in Iowa, but it was definitely an exciting dual meet to watch. The future is bright in Stillwater.