Muslims account for less than two per cent of Texas's population, but community organisers hope a surge in turnout can send a message that they are not to be treated as anyone's political boogeyman.
With days to go before the November 3 midterm elections, Al Jazeera reports that the final stretch of the campaign has been marked by growing Islamophobia, centred most prominently on Muslim candidates such as Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. In Texas, the report says, that climate has been years in the making, with state politicians pushing rhetoric and policies that Muslim voters say stigmatise their existence.
Even without a Muslim candidate on a statewide ballot, the stakes are local. Samir Nadjam, a Houston lawyer, told Al Jazeera he feels the hostility most through his children. "As adults we can pick and choose who we associate with," he said. "But kids, they all go to school together and you'll have certain families who watch certain news." Muslims account for less than two per cent of Texas's population, but community organisers hope a surge in turnout can send a message that they are not to be treated as anyone's political boogeyman.
The Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which oversees more than 30 mosques, has vastly expanded voter registration drives this year, with religious leaders pressing the message during Friday prayers. Its president, Emran Gazi, told Al Jazeera the society does not endorse candidates but urges members to vote their conscience. "We want to make sure the politicians and officials understand that Muslims need to be factored before they make any decision against Muslims," he said.
Much of the rhetoric has coalesced around the claim that Sharia poses an imminent threat to Texas. According to the report, Governor Greg Abbott told the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas last month that the state would "fully ban Sharia Law", and Senator Ted Cruz said at the same event that Sharia law is "fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution". In June the state Republican Party adopted a platform dubbed "Don't Sharia my Texas", and state legislators launched a "Sharia-free Texas Caucus" in March that has since gained 38 members in the 150-seat chamber. Two Texas congressmen, Chip Roy and Keith Self, launched a "Sharia-Free America Caucus" in Washington, now reported at 68 members.
Rights advocates and residents told Al Jazeera that the emphasis is baffling, since no jurisdiction in Texas or the US has enacted any form of Islamic law. The Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University-based Islamophobia tracker, said in a February report that state politicians have increasingly pointed to "ordinary expressions of Muslim civic life" as evidence of a broader threat. The climate has not spared Republican Muslims: the Texas Tribune reported that outgoing party chair Abraham George told two Muslim delegates to leave the party, and one Muslim Republican told Al Jazeera he would leave some candidates off his ballot.
The state has also moved against the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Abbott has sought to designate CAIR Texas a "foreign terrorist organisation", and Attorney General Ken Paxton, running a tight Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, has sued the group; CAIR Texas has sued Abbott on constitutional grounds. Organisers say translating dismay into statewide action is difficult given the community's diversity. What is not yet known is how many Muslim voters will turn out, and whether the rhetoric will move races in a state where the community is small.
