This story is part of Asian American Bustle, an occasional series publishing during Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
More than four decades ago, members of the North Texas Hindu community voiced their approval for a temple to be built on land they owned in Parker, but the reaction from some of their neighbors made them feel unwelcome.
Members of the Dallas-Fort Worth Temple Society proposed in the 1980s building a 9,000-square-foot temple and assembly hall complex for nearly 450 worshippers. But they were met with opposition from some people in the Collin County city.
Some said it didn’t fit with existing architectural styles and would draw unwanted travelers on the road, The Dallas Morning News archives show. A local clergyman voiced his opposition because Hinduism differed from his religious beliefs. A resident said if the city chose to build the temple, he would build a 12-foot fence so “we won’t have to look at the ethnic beauty” of the building.
The dispute lasted several years before members decided to sell the property they owned in Parker, about 25 miles north of Dallas.
In 1990, they found a welcoming community in Irving. They established the DFW Hindu Temple with then-Mayor Bob Pierce pledging his full cooperation, calling Irving “truly an international city, a melting pot city.”
The center was one of the first facilities along State Highways 183 and 161 that brought South Asians to the Dallas suburb. The temple helped create a central hub, fostering the development of businesses and housing and creating a sense of community. Mayor Rick Stopfer, who has lived in Irving for over 30 years, said the city has over 200 places of worship with a culture that “has always been one of inclusivity.”
“It has always been important to demonstrate openness to our diverse community,” Stopfer said in a statement. “Given our proximity to DFW International Airport, we are also one of the gateways to the world, and as such, we welcome and celebrate diversity.”
Around 38,000 of the city’s roughly 56,000 Asian American residents are of Indian descent, according to 2022 U.S. Census numbers. South Asians along those key state highways say proximity to work, family, school or a nice neighborhood is what draws them to the enclave.
But chief among the reasons is religion and a place to worship.
There have been more recent points of contention. For instance, the community was taken aback by comments made by former Mayor Beth Van Duyne. Van Duyne, now a Texas Congresswoman, nearly a decade ago accused mosque leaders of creating separate laws for Muslims. Around the same time, a 14-year-old boy was arrested after bringing a digital clock to his high school.
The News spoke with leaders of three religious centers to learn their roots and how they fostered a relationship with elected officials in a region where Hindus or Muslims weren’t always accepted.
‘From a shopping center’
Located less than 5 miles west of that temple is the Islamic Center of Irving. The mosque, considered one of the city’s oldest, is on 7 acres but the whole property around it is close to a dozen acres, public records show.
Laith Hussein, president of the mosque, said ICI had humble beginnings. Membership started with a few families in the 1980s gathering for Friday prayers in a small home they rented. They eventually rented a space in a strip shopping center on East Grauwyler Road and State Highway 183, where they established the nonprofit in 1991. Community members acquired the land off Esters Road and eventually opened the mosque doors in 2004, said Noman Gul Khan, ICI’s vice president.
Hussein said previous presidents and founders had a vision of making the mosque a “one-stop shop” where Muslims could live, provide education for their kids, fulfill their spiritual and shopping needs.
“From that little, small shopping center, we used to have 300-400 musallis [congregants] in Jummah [Friday prayers], now we have 3,500 in Jummah. It’s almost 10 times alhumdulillah [all praise to God],” Hussein said.
The mosque not only serves people of South Asian descent but Muslims of all nationalities. Inside the facility, they have prayer halls for men and women, a large indoor basketball court, an activity center, a multipurpose hall and a school that serves a little over 500 students from day care to 12th grade.
When the mosque was built, Yasir Arafat, a former ICI board member, said an influx of those from the Muslim community moved to Irving because, among other factors, newly constructed houses attracted people to live right next to the mosque. In the surrounding ZIP code that includes a big swath of State Highway 183, the Asian American population grew by about 81% to 7,500 residents in the last decade, Census data showed.
Earlier this year, thousands flocked to the masjid on Friday and Saturday evenings to break their fast in the holy month of Ramadan. Occasionally, the smell of barbecue wafts in the evening air outside the building as food carts open to lines of people exiting the mosque after prayers. There’s a sense of unity, Arafat said.
“I still remember that after I pray, I know exactly which vendor to go and get my food – it’s very traditional,” Arafat said. “You will see a lot of your friends gathered around that stall. You know the vendor; you know the cook who is there.”
That mosque has also facilitated the building of others in Irving. Funds set up to build a mosque for residents in Valley Ranch were collected at Islamic Center of Irving. In fact, the Valley Ranch Islamic Center, Arafat said, was first set up as a musalla, or an extension of ICI, for those who could not continually make a long commute to the main mosque. Now, the city has at least four mosques nearby.
ICI has further expansion plans on the horizon and even hopes to develop retail and restaurants in a real estate project, known as waqf. The goal, Hussein said, is to make the mosque financially self-sustaining without relying solely on donations.
“Over the years, the aspirations were really big not only to provide a place where we practice our religious congregation prayers but also have services for the community,” Hussein said.
‘Really welcoming’
Contrary to the scene four decades ago, many political and community leaders are happy to join South Asian groups for their celebrations.
State, federal and city officials joined members of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan temple on a nearby grassy field in early May to welcome the start of the center’s local cricket tournament. BAPS stands for Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a worldwide religious and civic organization within the Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism.
Those in attendance included Irving City Council members Mark Cronenwett and Brad LaMorgese, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, and State Rep. Matt Shaheen. They each received a cricket bat and a beaded necklace as gifts.
Veasey even squared up to hit the first pitch to kick off the tournament. His first and second swings were a miss — a little lower, members shouted to the pitcher. On the fourth attempt, Veasey swung and knocked the ball a long distance.
“Get him a jersey!” one person yelled.
“That was a pop-out fly, you got to do better than that,” Shaheen joked.
Their presence at the Hindu temple highlighted the growing influence of South Asians along with the connection elected officials have cultivated in welcoming them. Veasey, who represents the Valley Ranch area, said the South Asian community makes up a sizable part of the population in his district. The Asian American population in the ZIP code that includes Valley Ranch has grown about 43% over the last decade to 26,000 residents, according to census data.
“I’ve tried to come to as many BAPS events and others here in Valley Ranch as I can, and it’s been great,” Veasey said.
City officials use the connection to learn about other cultures, said Pooja Solanki, who is involved with the temple’s youth and outreach activities. The Hindu temple, referred to as a mandir, opened in 2010 and holds daily prayers but also has language classes, community events and a kitchen to feed members.
“The more I talked to these city officials here in Irving, they took a lot of pride in that [the diversity], so they’ve been really welcoming in just coming to our facility and learning more about Indian Hinduism,” Solanki said.
Earlier in April, Stopfer and Irving police Deputy Chief Philip Pearson stopped by the Gurdwara Nishkam Seva during the Sikh temple’s celebration of Vaisakhi, a major Sikh holiday festival.
Harbhajan Singh, the temple’s president, said “[Stopfer is] one of the unique mayors in the few cities in D-FW… In our congregation, we call it Sangat, each and everybody knows the mayor, he would go and shake their hands, and he is a very people-friendly person.”
Community members prayed at a small home in 1994 before a temple was built next to it in 2013, said Singh. The gurdwara is surrounded by single-family homes, and when community members initially approached the city with plans to build a larger facility, some neighbors objected, said Singh, who moved to North Texas in 1987. They believed the larger space would have speakers with calls for prayer and voiced their concerns about noise to the city, he said.
“We brought in a couple of neighbors, invited them and explained who we are, what we are and then they removed their objection,” Singh said.
‘Be a part of the broader community’
The BAPS temple hosts an annual walkathon with the national nonprofit BAPS charities to connect with the community and elected officials but also raise funds for local organizations.
This year’s walkathon June 8 in Dallas has two local beneficiaries: Irving Cares, which provides food and basic needs assistance to residents facing financial crises, and Metrocare, which provides mental health care for adults, Solanki said.
“BAPS is very forward thinking and not just thinking about ourselves but how can we be a part of the broader community, whether it be India-based organizations or the broader community, like the fire department, the police department, Irving Cares,” Solanki said.
In the last few years, the Islamic Center of Irving has partnered with the North Texas Food Bank to set up a site where people can pick up food directly outside the mosque. Hussein said the mosque distributes around half a million pounds of food every year.
“That does not really distinguish between Muslim or non-Muslim because we believe that we have to help everybody,” Hussein said.
Singh said the Gurdwara collects food for Irving Cares, and it hosts a winter clothing drive in which the clothes go to local churches that help homeless people.
This diversity is what makes Irving unique, said Arafat, who serves on the board of the city’s convention and visitors bureau. Like Stopfer, he points to the proximity of the airport as key to what has made the city so welcoming and has fostered the development of a growing South Asian community.
“I think Irving has always been very open,” Arafat said. “I would say the City Council, the mayor, our elected officials, they’re not difficult to reach. If there is any event in our community, you name it. I will just call a few of them and they’ll be there. They’ll show up.”
