Article By Ian M. Giatti
A viral video from worship leader Sean Feucht claims there are more mosques in the Dallas-Fort Worth region than the entirety of the capital of Afghanistan — but is that accurate?
Feucht, best known for his “Let Us Worship” rallies during the COVID-19 church lockdowns, shared the video on Sept. 1 in which he compared two maps showing the locations of mosques located in the DFW Metroplex compared with Kabul, Afghanistan, the city which the U.S. military attacked in response to the 9/11 attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“Where do you think this city is? Cairo, Egypt, Istanbul, Turkey, Mecca, and Saudi Arabia? No, this is Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, guys,” Feucht says in the video. “Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, the home of megachurches, is now filled with mosques. What are we doing? Why is this takeover allowed to happen and almost no one is talking about this?”
So where did Feucht get his numbers?
According to the most recently available census data, roughly 8.4 million people live in the DFW Metroplex, while Kabul has approximately 4.9 million people. Roughly 99% of Afghanistan’s entire population identifies as Muslim.
Despite the lack of official records, estimates suggest Kabul has as many as 15 major mosques, including historic and large ones such as the Bala Hissar Mosque and the Imam Mosque.
In Texas, meanwhile, Muslims make up about 1% of the adult population in DFW — with estimates of around 130,000 residents, according to the most recent data. Yet the metroplex is home to about 67 mosques, according to figures from the Muslim Directory and Imam-US‘s list of Islamic centers, which put the count at 62 Sunni mosques and five Shia mosques. However, the mosque directory service Fajr Labs lists 108 mosques and masjids in the DFW area.
The Lone Star State has made headlines in recent years for proposals to build “Muslim-only” developments in rural areas, including the now-stalled “EPIC City” development linked to the East Plano Islamic Center.
Last November, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as “terrorist organizations” because of their stated goal to “forcibly impose sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’” The order prohibits either organization from acquiring real property interest in Texas.
In May, Abbott threatened to pull $530,000 in state funding from Grand Prairie unless the city canceled a private Eid celebration at a water park. He also threatened to withhold funding from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport unless it dropped plans for ablution stations, the washing facilities Muslims use before prayer.
Last month, city officials in McKinney approved a site plan for a roughly 32,000-square-foot mosque complex — including a 15,000-square-foot sanctuary, classroom building, and gymnasium — on about 5.5 acres.
Pastors and other Christian leaders have spoken out against the potential rise of Islamic law, or Sharia, as a rising threat to religious freedom. That warning has also been echoed from the halls of Washington, D.C., where House Speaker Mike Johnson in March warned that Sharia “is in conflict with the Constitution.”
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