Authentic Ilm Mission has acquired a four-acre former Baptist church property in Richardson for a mosque, K-12 school and Islamic seminary, while critics have focused on promotional graphics depicting the Christian campus being transformed and remarks by Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq about Islam and Sharia law in America.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A former Christian church campus north of Dallas is being converted into a large Islamic education and worship complex, drawing renewed attention after promotional material for the project depicted the existing church property transitioning into a mosque.
Authentic Ilm Mission, or AIM, says its affiliated nonprofit Salahuddin Future Academy has acquired the approximately four-acre property at 201 N. Plano Road in Richardson, near Plano. The roughly 40,000-square-foot former Korean World Mission Baptist Church campus is slated to house Dar Al-Tawheed Masjid, a K-12 Islamic school, AIM’s Dawah Academy and Seminary, community programs, residential accommodations and humanitarian services.
The organization’s current website says it has received the keys to the property and is preparing the building for its new uses. AIM describes the site as a former church campus being “transformed” into an Islamic center serving Muslim families in the Richardson-Plano area.
That transformation has become the focus of criticism after images and video from AIM’s promotional campaign showed the Christian property giving way visually to renderings of an Islamic facility. A widely circulated social-media post called attention to the imagery.
The graphics reflect an actual change in use at the property rather than a hypothetical construction site. Salahuddin Future Academy purchased the former Baptist campus after a legal dispute over an earlier $3.8 million sales agreement. AIM representative Dr. Karim Abu Zaid subsequently confirmed that the purchase had been completed.
AIM’s fundraising material described the property as a “historic 4-acre, 40,000 sq. ft. church campus” that would become a mosque, Islamic K-12 school, seminary, community center, residential facility and food-pantry operation. The organization said it had raised $300,000 toward an $800,000 obligation due at the end of September, leaving $500,000 to be raised.
The group said donations and interest in the project had come from supporters well beyond North Texas. The Federalist reported that AIM’s campaign said roughly 1,500 people in 50 countries had contributed to the fundraising effort.
Public scrutiny increased further after a livestreamed gathering at the Sufaraa Center in McKinney featuring Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq, one of the Islamic scholars associated with AIM.
“We love this country,” Farooq said. “We want good for this country. And that’s why we want Islam for this country, ’cause we think that’s the best thing. And we’re not going to be ashamed of that.”
Farooq also defended Muslims’ right to follow Islamic religious principles under the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution.
“We’re Muslims. That’s our identity, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The Constitution of this country protects that. That’s our right to believe in the Sharia. Yes, I said it. That’s our right.”
The statements have been cited by critics who view AIM’s expansion and proselytizing mission with concern. Farooq framed the remarks differently, presenting them as an exercise of religious freedom and arguing that Muslims have the same constitutional right as other faith communities to promote their beliefs.
AIM openly describes Da’wah — the Islamic practice of inviting or calling others to Islam — as a central part of its mission. Its proposed seminary is intended to train Muslim educators, religious leaders and people engaged in Da’wah, while the K-12 school would combine academic instruction with Islamic education.
The Richardson property has an unusual history that adds to the attention surrounding its conversion.
Korean World Mission Baptist Church had owned the campus since the early 1990s. Salahuddin Future Academy sued the church in February after alleging that the congregation had agreed in October 2025 to sell the property for $3.8 million but later failed to complete the transaction. The church disputed the allegations, saying its pastor did not understand that he had signed a binding sale agreement and believed the paperwork related to listing the property.
The lawsuit ended in April when the academy voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the court never decided the underlying contract dispute. The property was nevertheless subsequently sold to Salahuddin Future Academy, and AIM announced that the acquisition was complete.
AIM has since said the former church vacated the campus earlier than expected, allowing preparations for the mosque, school and seminary to begin sooner. Its website now states that the organization has possession of the property and is preparing its first mosque wing and educational facilities.
One promotional video previously highlighted by Texas media went further than simply showing architectural changes. A speaker discussing the acquisition said the former congregation had trained Christian missionaries to evangelize Muslims but that the property would now be controlled by the Islamic organization. The phrase “Muslim haters!!” appeared on screen during that segment, according to reporting on the video.
Those messages, combined with the church-to-mosque imagery and Farooq’s comments about Islam in America, have fueled criticism from conservative activists and commentators.
They do not, however, by themselves establish that the project is intended to replace Christianity generally or impose Islamic religious law on people outside the organization. AIM publicly describes the campus as a privately operated religious, educational and community institution.
The controversy also comes amid a broader political fight over Muslim-led projects in North Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott has aggressively scrutinized a separate proposed development associated with the East Plano Islamic Center, commonly known as EPIC City. State agencies investigated that project, and Abbott has publicly opposed efforts he characterizes as creating Sharia-based enclaves or legal structures inconsistent with Texas law.
That EPIC City dispute is separate from AIM’s former church property at 201 N. Plano Road. Publicly available reporting reviewed on the Richardson project does not establish that Abbott has taken a formal enforcement action specifically against the AIM campus.
The distinction is significant because multiple mosque, school and Muslim community projects are underway across the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and they involve different organizations, properties and legal issues.
The AIM campus itself is in Richardson, although organizers repeatedly describe it as serving the Richardson-Plano corridor. The McKinney event at which Farooq made his comments was held at the Sufaraa Center, another organization with locations in McKinney and Prosper.
AIM is led by Abu Zaid and Farooq and describes itself as a national Islamic institution devoted to Quranic and Sunnah-based education. Its website says the organization intends to train a new generation of Muslim leaders, educators and community figures through formal religious study and Da’wah programs.
The organization’s acquisition reflects a broader pattern in which religious properties change hands as congregations grow, shrink or relocate. In this case, however, the highly visible conversion from an evangelical Christian campus to an Islamic school, seminary and mosque — combined with AIM’s own promotional presentation of that transition — has made the property a flashpoint in the wider debate over religion, immigration, cultural change and religious liberty in Texas.
Claims about the overall number of American mosques also require context. The most comprehensive nationwide survey identified 2,769 mosques in 2020, up 31% from 2,106 in 2010. Pew Research Center continues to describe the nationwide total as nearly 2,800 based on that survey, rather than confirming a current count above 3,000.
What is no longer in dispute is the status of the Richardson property itself: AIM says the former Christian campus has been acquired, the keys have been transferred, and preparations are underway to convert the site into a mosque, Islamic school, seminary and community complex.
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