Man Harasses Muslim Teens During Prayer Near Dallas Mosque, Sparks Hate Crime Investigation Call
CAIR-Texas demands a hate crime police investigation after a video showed an adult man disturbing Muslim teenagers who prayed near a Dallas-area mosque. The incident demonstrates a growing number of Islamophobic attacks that civil rights organizations observe throughout Texas.
Incident Details Emerge Near EPIC Mosque
The harassment occurred near the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) mosque in Dallas, where high school students were engaged in prayer when an adult man approached and began recording them while making derogatory comments. Video footage of the incident, which went viral on social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram, shows the individual laughing and treating the praying teenagers “like a spectacle” as others recorded.
According to CAIR-Texas, the organization has called on local law enforcement to investigate the incident as a potential hate crime while publicly commending the teenagers for their courage in the face of harassment. The incident has drawn widespread condemnation from Muslim community leaders and civil rights advocates who describe the behavior as “deplorable”.
Rising Tide of Anti-Muslim Incidents
The Dallas incident occurred during a time when anti-Muslim discrimination and harassment reached record heights throughout the United States. The number of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents reached 8,658 in 2024, according to CAIR, which represented a 7.4 percent rise from 2023 and established a new record since CAIR started tracking these incidents in 1996.
The Crime and Justice Research Alliance reported that police received 18% more anti-Muslim hate crime reports from 28 major U.S. cities during 2024. The report showed that Islamic places of worship faced at least 40 hate incidents among the total 647 documented hate incidents. The Dallas incident comes amid unprecedented levels of anti-Muslim discrimination and harassment across the United States.
Texas Becomes Focal Point
“Such hate incidents are connected to the many Islamophobic statements and policies of Governor Abbott and other state officials.”
— Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director, CAIR Dallas-Fort Worth
Texas has become a particular flashpoint for anti-Muslim incidents in recent months. CAIR-Texas has linked the rise in harassment to what it describes as inflammatory rhetoric from state officials, particularly Governor Greg Abbott’s repeated references to “Sharia compounds” in connection with Muslim community developments.
In September 2025, another incident occurred at the Sufaraa Center in McKinney, Texas, where a man entered the building and shouted, “There should be no mosques in the USA,” prompting increased police presence. CAIR-Texas officials directly connected such incidents to state-level rhetoric targeting Muslim communities.
Impact on Muslim Youth
The educational environment has developed into a challenging space for students who practice Islam. The 2025 CAIR-Massachusetts bullying report showed that 48% of Muslim students faced religious-based bullying, while 22% experienced it frequently.
The report showed that Muslim students faced physical attacks and harassment at school, while others faced verbal attacks during their prayers and were called terrorists. A tenth-grade female student shared in the survey that people directly attacked her during her prayer time.
Community Response and Legal Action
CAIR-Texas continues to request hate crime investigations and enhanced accountability measures when Muslim people experience harassment. The organization asked the police to arrest the men who harassed University of Texas students during a Palestine Solidarity Committee meeting and demanded hate crime investigations following mosque vandalism incidents.
The 2024 complaints to CAIR showed employment discrimination as the main issue at 15.4% followed by immigration and asylum problems at 14.8%, educational discrimination at 9.8% and hate crimes at 7.5%.