Protesters and counterprotesters gathered outside a Plano mosque on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, as competing groups clashed over Islam, Sharia law, and the growth of Muslim communities in North Texas.
The demonstration took place outside the Islamic Association of Collin County at 6401 Independence Parkway. Lone Star Legionaries promoted the September 11 demonstration as “Stand for Texas (Against the Islamic Invasion),” calling on Texans to oppose what the organization describes as growing Islamic influence in the state.
Counterprotesters, including Muslims and members of an interfaith coalition, gathered nearby to oppose the demonstration and express support for the Muslim community.
Jenn Mack, an independent write-in candidate for Texas governor who attended the protest, told The Dallas Express that demonstrators should honor the Americans killed on September 11 while confronting what she characterized as Islamic supremacism.
“You know, it’s important that we stand against any Islamic supremacists,” Mack said. “Right now, we are in a day where we’re supposed to be truly mourning and memorializing those who have fallen during 9/11.”
Mack said Americans should not allow concerns about offending others to prevent them from discussing Islamic extremism.
“We can’t worry about hurting people’s feelings,” Mack said. “We lost thousands of American citizens.”
The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people after 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members fought the hijackers.
“I just encourage you guys to actually stand up. Stand for those who have lost their family members, but also stand for for those who are here trying to protect it from happening again. Truly,” Mack said.
Activists warn of ‘Islamization’
Krista Schild, Texas director for RAIR Foundation USA, told The Dallas Express that she became involved in activism surrounding Islam following controversy over the proposed EPIC City development in North Texas.
“I’ve been standing against the Islamization of Texas, and specifically started with EPIC City, which is about 25 minutes from my home,” Schild said.
Schild alleged that activists have been providing lawmakers with documentation concerning what she described as ties between Texas mosques, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Islamic leaders.
“We’ve been bringing documentation and exposing the terrorist ties to mosques like East Plano Islamic Center and Yasir Qadhi’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, so that our legislators are aware of who is actually in charge of of moving the Muslim Brotherhood agenda to basically dismantle Western civilization as we know it,” Schild said.
Schild made similar claims in February testimony to a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee. Qadhi serves as EPIC’s resident scholar and said in a June 2025 post that he is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
A State Department report described IUMS as widely viewed in the press and academia as affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, although IUMS says it is independent. The union’s official biography of founding president Yusuf al-Qaradawi acknowledges his Brotherhood association.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain placed IUMS on their terrorism lists, accusing it of promoting terrorism under the cloak of Islam. IUMS rejected the designation as baseless and politically motivated. In a March 2025 fatwa, IUMS declared military intervention and weapons support binding duties and described jihad against what it called the “Zionist entity” and its collaborators as an individual obligation for capable Muslims.
EPIC also hosted a June 2023 event about efforts to secure Aafia Siddiqui’s release, according to Qadhi’s official video. In 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft identified Siddiqui among suspected al-Qaeda operatives sought in connection with possible terrorist threats in the United States.
A federal jury later convicted her of attempting to murder U.S. nationals and officers in Afghanistan; she is serving an 86-year sentence.
Together, the records substantiate the factual associations underlying Schild’s allegations: Qadhi’s IUMS membership, the group’s Muslim Brotherhood associations and foreign terrorism designations, and EPIC’s event concerning Siddiqui.
The records do not show that the United States has charged EPIC or Qadhi with terrorism or designated either as a terrorist entity.
EPIC and the Islamic Association of Collin County, where Friday’s demonstrations occurred, are separate Plano mosques. East Plano Islamic Center describes itself as a nonprofit organization formed for religious, educational, and social purposes.
Schild said she opposes the prospect of North Texas becoming what she characterized as an Islamic center of influence.
“We’re not going to allow the Mecca, the West, or the epicenter for Islam in North America to happen in Northeast Texas in our home,” Schild said.
Counterprotesters push back
A Muslim representative with CLEAR DFW offered a sharply different perspective, telling The Dallas Express that counterprotesters attended to demonstrate that Muslims are welcome in the community.
“We are here for from CLEAR DFW and interfaith kind of group here is to show them and also our Muslim brothers and sisters here that they are welcome to this country,” she said.
The representative said Christians, Muslims, Jews, and members of other faith communities participated in what she characterized as a peaceful response.
“This is a very peaceful resistance to what we are witnessing here in our opposition,” she said. “We are here to kind of put out a peaceful message.”
The competing groups also disagreed over Sharia law, which has increasingly become a subject of political debate in Texas.
The CLEAR DFW representative argued that critics misunderstand the term.
“First and foremost, I feel there’s a lot of education and illiteracy around Sharia law,” she said. “It’s basically divine guidance that’s been bestowed upon Muslims to be able to live an ethical and moral life.”
She described Sharia as “the path towards God” and rejected claims that Muslims were attempting to impose Islamic law on others.
“It’s not going to work because we are you know what unites us is far greater than what divides us,” she said.
The competing demonstrations unfolded as worshippers attended Friday prayers at the mosque and as debate over Islam, Sharia, and Muslim developments continues across North Texas.
For protesters, the September 11 anniversary provided a backdrop for warnings about Islamic extremism and political Islam. Counterprotesters argued that using the anniversary to broadly target Muslim communities unfairly associates American Muslims with the terrorists responsible for the attacks.
Both sides gathered outside the same Plano mosque with fundamentally different messages about what the growth of North Texas’ Muslim community means for the region.
Provided by Dallas Express
