North Texas Muslims Establish a Cemetery

adamant that I’m responsible for my own actions. I carry that with me a lot. If I did something wrong, I’m held accountable and I’m fine with that. It doesn’t matter how it’s perceived, as long as I know what I’m doing. However, I realize this is not true technically. There is a hadith about it being better to explain yourself and avoid being misconstrued than to have people assume things about you. This is true especially in the public sphere.

This role made me have more akhlaq (character) and adab (manners). In many state- and national-level events, conferences and meetings, I’m the first Muslim many people get to meet. If I am your first Muslim interaction, I will be a learning lesson for you. You will not shake my hand or hug me as a person of the opposite gender, because I’m conscious about having boundaries respected. When we have a meeting from 6:10 p.m., I’m adamant about taking a recess for prayer.

Your actions have implications for people who look like you. Be mindful. I never really grasped this until entering politics. You are taught certain mannerisms, and your behaviors are a part of your faith. I want to be more responsible. I don’t want to be the one who prevents another Muslimah from reaching her potential and/or ambition because of my behavior.

This role also made me have stronger convictions on the pursuit of justice, especially at expulsion hearings. The Board of Ed decides if a student gets expelled. Once you’re expelled, you’re not welcome in any other public school for a full academic calendar year. A student’s future is in the board’s hand. Expulsions are systemic ways to hinder students of color. I can’t be a part of a system that hurts students, especially Black or Brown kids. So I have to be mindful of the choices I make. I’d rather go down alone knowing that I didn’t agree with a policy or decision held by my board.

The Quran reminds us, “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for God, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, God is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed God is ever, with what you do, acquainted” (4:135).

SEEKING TO REPRESENT

I strongly encourage people to enter politics, but only after they look into the role that they want. If it’s a partisan position, build your name up in the party you are filing under. Gain some insight on the job by working or volunteering on candidate campaigns. I learned about campaigning from working on campaigns. There’s nothing like hands-on experience, getting your feet wet.

Don’t underestimate the position you’re looking into. Many positions are not contested, so the same candidate ends up winning again and again. In fact, people are often unaware of the large number of positions that are available. We’re not taught about these things in school. Don’t assume that tokenizing yourself will work, for you need to have a real platform and know your issues to succeed. Take the hard preparatory work seriously and try to win. ih

Jihan Aiyash, MPH (Wayne State University), who serves on the Hamtramck Board of Education, is the first Yemeni American woman elected to public office in Michigan. In addition, she is the student section chair president on the Michigan Public Health Association board and has volunteered as a math instructor with the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services. North Texas Muslims Establish a Cemetery The five-year struggle for the Farmersville Muslim cemetery, a joint project of seven Islamic associations, has finally ended

BY ABOOBAKER EBRAHIM

Dr. Yasir Qadhi, resident scholar, East Plano Islamic Center [EPIC] (third left), conducted the groundbreaking ceremony with Ustadh Mohamd Baajour, director of Tarbiyyah and community development, EPIC (second left) and others

On June 7, Muslims living in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex finally broke ground for their Farmersville Muslim Cemetery, a project that they have pursued since 2015.

The anticipated construction cost of this project, which will contain 11,000 burial sites, is approximately $2.67 million. A contractor to develop the land has been selected, and the contract is being finalized.

The participating Islamic associations continue their fundraising drive and are well on their way to achieving their targeted dollar amount and goals.

In 2015, Muslims from and around Dallas and Collin County purchased a 35-acre lot on Lake Lavon in Farmersville for a new cemetery when the existing Muslim cemeteries in Denton and at Restland in Richardson began reaching near capacity and became very costly.

Farmersville was chosen because most other Collin County cities had restrictions on building cemeteries. Two acres adjoining the highway will be used for commercial purposes to help fund its maintenance costs, 17.4 acres for gravesites and the remainder for landscaping and maintenance.

Consequently, seven Islamic associations of Collin County and North Texas – the Islamic Association of North Texas-Dallas Central Mosque, the Islamic Association of Allen, the Islamic Association of Frisco, the Islamic Association of McKinney, the East Plano Islamic Center and Masjid Ar-Rahman — came together to acquire the land.

Ever since this idea was introduced, some Farmersville residents have greeted it with outrage and controversy. Their opposition is based on potential health violations and/or contamination, despite the fact that Muslims have been laid to rest in Dallas County and surrounding areas for decades without any such concerns being raised.

A predominantly White community of around 3,500 people, Farmersville is located about 35 miles northeast of Dallas. The local authorities unanimously granted permission for the proposed cemetery, as required by local and state planning regulations. The local residents, who expressed anti-Islamic sentiments and were extremely critical of Muslims and their beliefs, vehemently denounced the proposal.

Council members and planning officials reported receiving death threats, and calls were made to desecrate the site with the blood and/or severed heads of pigs. The council, emphasizing that it was bound by local and state planning regulations, stated that there was little it could do to prevent the cemetery from going ahead.

Pastor David J. Meeks of the Bethlehem Baptist Church became one of the most outspoken opponents. Despite being rebuked by Southern Baptist officials for being “on the wrong side of the fence,” he called Islam a “quasi-pseudo religion” and declared that he felt “the danger is so real that I must do everything I can to stop it.”

He further claimed that the cemetery would become a Muslim enclave within the rural community: “They will expand. How can we stop a mosque or madrassa training center from going in there?” (Joe Holley, “Dispute over Islamic cemetery splits N. Texas community,” Houston Chronicle, July 24, 2015).

When it became known that the proposal submitted to the Farmersville Planning and Zoning Commission in May 2015 had been approved, opposition began mounting. Residents intensified their campaign when, in nearby Garland, two Islamic extremists — Elton Simpson, an African American convert, and Nadir Hamid Soofi, the son of a Pakistani father and an American mother — were killed as they attempted to attack an exhibition that sought to insult Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

In the 2016 local elections Greg Gomez, who had run for mayor on an anti-Muslim, anti-Islam and anti-cemetery platform, was elected. He used various delaying tactics to stall the project.

In February 2017, the Planning Commissions again unanimously approved the project and sent it to the City Council, now led by Gomez, for consideration. Citing flooding concerns, the council denied it. This caused further delay, expense, uncertainty and financial loss to the Muslim community.

The First Amendment, together with state and federal laws such as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), “protect individuals, houses of

A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COMMUNITY OF AROUND 3,500 PEOPLE, FARMERSVILLE IS LOCATED ABOUT 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF DALLAS. THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES UNANIMOUSLY GRANTED PERMISSION FOR THE PROPOSED CEMETERY, AS REQUIRED BY LOCAL AND STATE PLANNING REGULATIONS.

worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws” (https://www.justice.gov/ crt/religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-act).

Despite the Farmersville Planning and Zoning Commission’s initial approval of the land purchased in extra-territorial jurisdiction to Farmersville, the City Council denied the preliminary plan application.

After more than three years of obstruction and blatant discrimination, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Texas instituted an investigation and filed a complaint alleging that the city’s denial of the application imposed a substantial burden on the Islamic associations’ religious exercise and discriminated against them on the basis of religion.

In April 2019, they announced a settlement agreement with Farmersville to resolve allegations that the city had violated RLUIPA

Aboobaker Ebrahim, LLM (Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law), a long-time Dallas resident, has served as vice president at the Islamic Association of North Texas and is a lifetime member of ISNA.

when it denied the application. ih

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