Free Quran and Hijab Handouts at Texas High School Prompt Investigation

A Texas school district is facing mounting scrutiny after a viral video alleged an Islamic group was invited to campus against protocol, where they reportedly handed out Qurans and hijabs.

“Today, there was an organization called ‘Why Islam’ that had a huge table booth in front of our school,” begins the video of student Marco Hunter-Lopez, which was posted to the Denton County Republican Party’s Facebook page. “They were giving hijabs to girls throughout the high school,” he explained. “They were giving out Qurans, and they also had pamphlets about Shariah law.”

“We typically have colleges come out,” said the student in the video. “We’ve never had a faith group… I’ve never seen churches, or Bibles passed out.”

Now, administrators at Wylie East High School in Wylie, Texas, are apologizing and launching an internal review and promising tighter enforcement of campus access rules.

However, others argue it’s fair game for other religions to promote themselves in a state that mandates Christian iconography be placed in every classroom.

National Hijab Day

The group was on campus in celebration of National Hijab Day, which is celebrated in 140 countries and which has the stated goal of educating non-Muslims about the veil. The school says that members of ‘Why Islam’ were invited by a student-led Muslim group, which was not formally approved by the school. According to officials, they were improperly allowed in by a staffer and were able to set up their table during the school’s lunch hour. 

An internal review from the district revealed that only about 50 students visited the table. Most just took a piece of candy, though about a dozen tried on a hijab. What began as a small lunchtime table quickly snowballed into a statewide flashpoint once the footage hit social media.

Outrage grew when the now-viral video was posted later that evening, though not every student had such a negative reaction. "I find it really weird that they are kind of pissed about it since we're forced to have the Ten Commandments in every single classroom,” said student Kennedy Williams. “It's just a religion, and they weren't forcing it on anyone too, they were just handing it out to whoever wanted to."

Anti-Islamic Sentiment Growing

The move comes amidst broad anti-Islam sentiment from Texas’ political leadership. One political consultant described fears over Sharia law as the new border – a political lightning rod capable of energizing Texas voters almost instantly.

Last year, Texas politicians investigated a planned Islamic community called EPIC City, alleging without evidence that it would be a community governed by Sharia law – investigations that have so far turned up no wrongdoing.

And though Muslims only make up about 2% of Texas’ population, their existence animates town halls and school board meetings across the Lone Star State. Protests over mosque construction, heated school board debates, and viral social media posts have turned Islam into a recurring cultural flashpoint. Some anti-Islamic activists have even proposed statewide bans on burqas and hijabs.

At its core, the controversy raises a complicated question: why did a small lunchtime table offering hijabs spark such fury in a state where the Ten Commandments are regular classroom fixtures in Texas?

If one form of religious expression is normalized – even mandated – does another automatically become threatening? 

Was this the major breach of church/state separation that many are claiming? Or does the outrage reveal deeper anxieties about which faiths are seen as part of the cultural mainstream, and which are treated as outsiders?