Islamic Proselytizing in a Texas High School? I’ve Got Questions…

By Philip C. Johnson
February 4, 2026

The 2026 Incident: How Did This Happen?

On February 2, 2026, during lunch periods at Wylie East High School in Wylie, Texas, four women from the external organization “Why Islam” set up a prominent booth in a common area. They distributed free Qurans, hijabs for female students to try on, pamphlets including one on “Understanding Shariah,” henna designs, candy, and branded gift bags with Islamic materials. In a video recorded by Marco, president of the school’s High School Republicans club, he holds these items and describes the outreach—known as dawah—as aggressively targeting girls, with the goal of providing hijabs to as many as possible.

Security footage later reviewed by the district showed fewer than 50 students approaching the table, with most taking candy, about four getting henna, and roughly a dozen trying on hijabs. Yet the setup was elaborate, visible, and occurred during school hours. Logically, how does a full booth with external adults materialize without anyone in administration noticing? Who approved their entry? Who brought in boxes of materials? The district claims ignorance, but skepticism is warranted.

District’s Response: Procedural Breakdown or Evasion?

Wylie Independent School District (Wylie ISD) labeled the event unauthorized, citing a “procedural breakdown.” A student club—likely the school’s Muslim Student Association (MSA)—invited the group without following required protocols for guest speakers or external organizations. The district insists this was not about religion or ideology, rejecting any “coordinated effort” to promote an agenda. An investigation is ongoing, focusing on club oversight and approval processes.

While mistakes happen, the explanation strains credulity. A booth doesn’t assemble itself in a high-traffic area without staff awareness. This wasn’t passive; it was active recruitment on taxpayer-funded property.

The Organization and Its Ties

“Why Islam” is the official dawah arm of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), focused on outreach through booths, hotlines, and campaigns. Critics link ICNA historically to Jamaat-e-Islami, a South Asian Islamist group with ideological parallels to the Muslim Brotherhood, emphasizing gradual societal influence. Though not designated terrorist-linked, such networks prioritize long-term goals of Islamic expansion.

Prior Events and Patterns

This isn’t isolated. In February 2025, Wylie East’s MSA hosted World Hijab Day, where Principal Tiffany Doolan participated by wearing a hijab and enthusiastically posting on Instagram: “I LOVED this experience!” Such administrative involvement suggests a comfort level with Islamic promotion that might not extend to other faiths.

World Hijab Day: Celebration or Normalization?

Founded in 2013 by Nazma Khan, World Hijab Day invites non-Muslims to wear hijabs for empathy and tolerance. Critics, however, see it as whitewashing a symbol of oppression in Shariah-enforcing regimes like Iran and Taliban Afghanistan, where women risk severe punishment for defiance.

A Personal Warning: Lessons from Muslim-Majority Countries

Having spent years working in Muslim-majority countries and forming genuine friendships with many Muslims—individuals I deeply care for, whose eternal souls I earnestly pray will come to know Christ—I hold no illusions or naivety about Islam as an ideology. My experiences have stripped away any sentimental idealism; I see its aims with clear eyes.

What begins as “tolerance” and “education” often reveals Islam’s muscular, singular ideology—one that seeks dominance, not coexistence. The naivety in misunderstanding these goals is a dangerous miscalculation. Targeting impressionable youth in public schools isn’t innocent outreach; it’s strategic propaganda, part of a broader effort to normalize Islamic norms in the West.

Have we learned nothing from Europe? Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Brussels have all paid a heavy price for similar accommodation: parallel societies, grooming scandals, rising antisemitism, terrorist attacks, and growing demands for Sharia accommodation. Public institutions seem alarmingly unaware—or unwilling to acknowledge—the risks of promoting practices tied to women’s subjugation under strict Shariah. When administrators participate in hijab events or student clubs bypass rules to invite dawah groups, it erodes neutrality and invites deeper infiltration.

Legal Realities and Double Standards

The Establishment Clause demands secularism in schools. (I won’t derail this article by talking about why Christian families shouldn’t leave their children in government schools at all, but let’s continue.) Student clubs have rights under the Equal Access Act, but external proselytizing requires oversight. Christian groups face swift shutdowns for similar activities—imagine Bibles and modesty pamphlets distributed unchecked. Why the disparity?

Time for Real Accountability

This incident exposes vulnerabilities in public education. We need thorough investigations: Who exactly in the student club extended the invitation? Were staff complicit or negligent? How can protocols be strengthened to prevent repeats?

Parents and taxpayers must demand transparency. Our schools should educate, not indoctrinate—but they do, in so many ways, indoctrinate the next generation. Allowing this kind of ideological recruitment—especially from groups with supremacist undertones—puts children at risk. From my experience abroad, this is how cultural shifts begin subtly, then accelerate. Texas, and America, cannot afford such complacency.