Inside the New ‘Mecca’ of Texas: How Houston’s Al-Hadi School Indoctrinates Shia Loyalists for Iran, Simulates Islamic Rule, and Undermines American Civilization

Can’t make it to Mecca this year? Don’t worry—there’s a version of it right in the heart of Texas. That’s right. One of Houston’s many controversial Islamic schools has decided that a trip to Saudi Arabia isn’t necessary when you can simulate the sacred Islamic pilgrimage—Hajj—on American soil. Not in Tehran. Not in Qom. But in Houston, Texas.

While Christians can’t build churches in Mecca, and Jews and non-Muslims are completely banned from even entering the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, Muslims in America are being handed the keys to recreate these same religious spaces right in your backyard—often with the full protection of U.S. laws and nonprofit tax exemptions—all under the label of ‘education.’”

Let that sink in.

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The Shia Islamic School That Feels Like Iran

The school in question is Al-Hadi School, named after the 10th Shia Imam, Ali al-Hadi—a revered figure in Twelver Shia Islam. Located on a sprawling 10-acre campus in southwest Houston, this private Islamic institution is not American in any meaningful civic or cultural sense. It functions as a Shia ideological enclave, guided by the Ja’fari Isna Ashari school of jurisprudence—the very same doctrine that forms the legal backbone of Iran’s theocratic regime. While advancing this foreign-aligned agenda, Al-Hadi enjoys full 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, meaning donations to the school are tax-deductible under U.S. law.

This isn’t some generic “values-based” school like your average Catholic or Christian academy. Al-Hadi openly declares its mission:

“The Jafari Isna Ashari school of thought is the basis for our beliefs and practices.”

“The inclusion of Islamic Principles in the curriculum with an emphasis on ideology and morality is necessary to instill proper values and behavior in students, and to prepare them to be Momins (practicing and believing Muslims).”

Translation: Their purpose isn’t just education—it’s religious transformation and amplification.

That transformation extends beyond the classroom—and it doesn’t welcome outsiders. In 2012, Al-Hadi was sued by a former Muslim teacher who claimed he was fired for being “too American.” The lawsuit alleged the school created a hostile work environment and that the teacher was told he “did not understand certain things because he was American.” This wasn’t just workplace friction—it was ideological gatekeeping. Al-Hadi wasn’t merely educating students; it was actively filtering out anything that resembled American culture, values, or identity.

And this transformation is backed by more than just ideology—it’s entangled in foreign influence and federal scrutiny. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a major civil forfeiture action targeting the Islamic Education Center (IEC) of Houston—the very campus where Al-Hadi School operates. The IEC property was partially owned by the Alavi Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit accused of acting as a front for the Iranian regime. Federal prosecutors alleged that the Alavi Foundation, in coordination with Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli, had illegally funneled millions of dollars into the United States to promote the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The government’s legal filings revealed that the foundation had spent decades laundering Iranian money through American institutions—using schools, mosques, and cultural centers as ideological outposts. The IEC in Houston, which houses both a mosque and Al-Hadi School, was explicitly named as one of the properties subject to seizure. While Al-Hadi School was not individually indicted, it continues to operate on land tied to what prosecutors described as a “global Iranian influence operation.”

Further, the IEC has hosted events commemorating Ayatollah Khomeini—the founder of Iran’s Islamic Republic—and provided a platform for speakers sympathetic to Iran’s revolutionary ideology. These are not fringe associations. They are deliberate alignments with a regime that jails, tortures, and executes dissenters—and openly calls for the destruction of Western civilization.

In that context, Al-Hadi’s educational model can’t be viewed in isolation. Critics argue it’s part of a broader network of Iranian-linked institutions advancing a parallel system intended to destroy and replace the American one. This raises serious national security, legal, and cultural concerns for every American.

Now, concerned Americans are speaking out. A growing online petition is calling for the U.S. government to investigate and shut down Al-Hadi School, along with a list of other Islamic centers accused of operating as ideological and financial arms of the Iranian regime. The petition alleges that these centers—often led by radical Iranian-American Shiites loyal to the Islamic Republic—are tied to organizations like the Ahl Al-Bayt World Assembly, directed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

These centers don’t just preach religion—they spread regime propaganda, coordinate with Iranian authorities, and host events that glorify Ayatollah Khomeini, celebrate the Islamic Revolution, and push an openly anti-Western, anti-Semitic agenda. Among the organizations listed are the: Islamic Education Center of Houston, The Awaited One Foundation, and The Islamic Institute of America in Michigan—all of which are part of a coordinated influence operation designed to reshape U.S. Muslim communities into loyal outposts of the Islamic Republic.

The petition demands that these entities be treated not as religious institutions but as foreign ideological satellites—and calls for immediate federal action to dismantle their presence on American soil.

And this ideological export isn’t just theoretical—it’s theatrical, emotional, and immersive.

Students from Al-Hadi School are actively encouraged to participate in Karbala reenactments hosted by the Islamic Education Center—highly dramatized performances rooted in Shia Islamic tradition. Known as Ta’ziya or Shabih, these ritual plays commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

But this isn’t Sunday school storytelling. In Shia-majority countries like Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, Karbala reenactments are politically charged spectacles, designed to evoke grief, loyalty, and a readiness to resist perceived oppressors. The message is clear: those who oppose the faith—symbolically represented by the tyrant Yazid—must be mourned, condemned, or fought. And in Houston, Texas, children are being trained to carry that message forward—not as observers, but as participants. Young boys dress in costume, chant in Arabic, and physically reenact a centuries-old battle that still defines Shia political theology to this day.

It doesn’t stop there.

Al-Hadi School also holds an Arbaeen Walk Simulation, recreating one of the most significant and symbolic pilgrimages in Shia Islam. In the Middle East, Arbaeen is marked by a massive trek to Karbala, often used by the Iranian regime to showcase regional dominance and rally the faithful under its banner. In Houston, students walk a symbolic route, while families sponsor mawkibs—resting stations along the way—as if participating in the real event. The school’s own promotional language calls on “all the lovers of Imam Hussein” to join the ritual, framing it as a spiritual homecoming—even though they’re thousands of miles away from Iraq.

Watch the school’s own student-produced report, where Al-Hadi proudly highlights how students traveled to Iraq this past summer—escorted by a teacher—to fulfill their lifelong religious dreams. While the U.S. State Department strongly warns Americans not to travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, civil unrest, and the government’s limited ability to assist citizens, that advisory clearly doesn’t apply to Shia Muslims on pilgrimage. When you’re aligned with the ideology of the region, you’re not a target—you’re welcomed. That alone speaks volumes about who these children are being taught to identify with.

What’s really being walked here isn’t just a religious path—it’s a sectarian identity paved with loyalty to martyrdom, grief-driven emotionalism, and, ultimately, allegiance to clerical rule.

These are not benign cultural expressions. They are ritualized political indoctrination tools, imported from Iran and adapted for American soil—designed to cultivate a new generation whose identity is shaped more by the Islamic Republic’s historical grievances than by American civic life.

From Toddler to Theocrat: A Pipeline of Islamic Indoctrination

Al-Hadi School starts indoctrinating children as young as 18 months. The curriculum is heavily tailored to Islamic theology, with a daily ritualistic structure, teaching everything from ritual purity (wudhu) to Islamic family law and the enforcement of hijab.

Here’s what students are taught as they grow:

Preschoolers begin learning Arabic, Islamic manners (adaab), ritual law (Ahkaam), and the names of Islamic months.

Elementary students memorize the entire last Juz of the Qur’an, participate in congregational prayers, and receive instruction in Islamic ethics and obligations.

Middle and High Schoolers move on to Tafseer (Qur’anic interpretation), Tajweed (pronunciation rules), Arabic grammar, and debate around Islamic law [Sharia]—including topics like hijab, family law, and obedience.

And when a girl turns nine? She has a special celebration to mark her entry into full Islamic responsibility (Taklif), where she learns her new religious duties under Shia law. Nine years old. That’s the age they choose to impose the full weight of Islamic legal obligations on a child in Texas.

In the West, nine-year-old girls are in third or fourth grade—playing, learning, growing. In Al-Hadi School, they’re being formally initiated into a system of strict Sharia (Islamic law), derived from the Ja’fari school of jurisprudence, the very same legal doctrine that governs the Islamic Republic of Iran.

At an age when American children are still protected by innocence, these girls are taught that they are now legally accountable before Allah and must follow a comprehensive Islamic code—mandatory prayers, ritual washing, fasting, the Islamic veil (hijab), and moral surveillance. This isn’t Sunday school. It’s the religious arm of a foreign legal system.

This is not cultural enrichment—it’s the quiet enforcement of a parallel theocratic system on American soil.

And to be clear, Taklif is not symbolic. In Ja’fari Shia Islam, once a girl reaches nine lunar years—about 8.75 solar years—she is considered legally responsible under Sharia. From that point on, failure to perform her duties is a religious violation. She is no longer treated as a child but as a moral agent under God’s law.

This system doesn’t just teach religion. It imposes a legal identity—with obligations, expectations, and restrictions—on American children. And it’s being celebrated, not in Qom, not in Najaf, not in Tehran—but in Houston, Texas.

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But Wait—There’s a Hajj Simulation Too!

What better way to complete the immersion than to hold a Hajj simulation—a mock pilgrimage modeled after one of the most sacred and exclusive rituals in all of Islam. That’s exactly what Al-Hadi School in Houston is doing. A full-scale reenactment of Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, is held every year in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Watch the reenactment below:

But let’s be clear: Hajj isn’t just a religious tradition. It’s a geopolitical and legal boundary marker. It takes place in Mecca, a city that is 100% off-limits to non-Muslims. Not figuratively. Legally.

Under Saudi law, non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca or Medina, the two holiest Islamic cities. If a non-Muslim is caught there, they face immediate deportation, arrest, and a lifetime ban. These are not soft cultural preferences. These are enforced religious apartheid laws.

Think about that:

• No Christians allowed.
• No Jews allowed.
• No Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, or atheists allowed.
• Not even for tourism.
• Not even to witness the architecture.
• Not even to ask questions.

Islamic law governs entry, and the penalty for violating it is severe—because these cities are considered sacrosanct Islamic territory. Mecca is off-limits to every single non-Muslim on earth.

This is religious apartheid in its purest form—far more extreme than anything seen in South Africa. Non-Muslims aren’t just second-class citizens; they are entirely banned from setting foot in these cities for any reason—whether as visitors, workers, or even janitors. There is no tolerance, no exceptions, and no coexistence.

So while Americans, Christians, Jews, and people of all faiths and none are banned from even setting foot in Mecca, Muslims in Texas are free to recreate Mecca inside your state—complete with symbolic rituals, indoctrination, and simulations of a pilgrimage you will never be allowed to witness or take part in.

You are banned from Mecca.
But Mecca is welcome to build itself in Houston.

This is not a two-way street. It’s not coexistence. It’s colonization wrapped in religious privilege.

No other religion on earth has this kind of legal and territorial exclusivity.

• You can walk through the Vatican, whether you’re Catholic or not.
• You can visit Jerusalem, no matter your faith.
• You can step into a Hindu temple, a Buddhist monastery, a Jewish synagogue—without fear of deportation or arrest.

But Mecca is for Muslims only. Period.

And now, instead of challenging that exclusionary mindset, Texas politicians are importing it—celebrating it—and protecting it under the banner of multiculturalism. They’ve allowed a school to simulate one of the world’s most religiously segregated rituals inside an American city with zero regard for the fact that this very ritual is closed off to every single non-Muslim on the planet.

This is the “integration” they promised.
This is the “enrichment” they claimed would make America stronger.

Instead, it’s an imported religious fortress—closed to your children. A separate enclave with ideological boundaries that reject American civic life and integration.

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Ask Yourself: Is This Integration?

No one objects to personal faith. But this isn’t about religion—this is about segregation, parallel societies, and the quiet construction of Islamic mini-states under the nose of the American public.

The Al-Hadi School isn’t integrating into American life—it’s building an entirely separate one under the banner of a foreign Shia Islamic ideology with deep ties to Iran, a nation openly hostile to American values and Western freedoms.

Where are the politicians? Where is the Texas Department of Education? Where are the defenders of secular, American civic life?

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This Is Not Education—It’s Colonization

America welcomes religious freedom. But freedom does not mean giving ideological space to religious supremacists whose countries ban and imprison Christians, Jews, and atheists while they build their own segregated cities, their own laws, and their own rituals on American soil.

It’s time to ask a blunt, honest question:

Are we building the next generation of American citizens—or the next generation of foot soldiers for an imported theocratic agenda?

Texans, you better start paying attention. Because the Islamic Republic of Iran may be 7,000 miles away—but if you walk through the gates of Al-Hadi School in Houston, you might start to feel like you’re already there.

Shariah Means Qisas: The Legal System Behind the School

What’s being taught at Al-Hadi isn’t just theology—it’s the legal scaffolding of an entirely different civilization. The enforcement of hijab, the age of Taklif, the replication of Hajj—these are all entry points into something far more dangerous: Sharia (Islamic law).

Sharia governs every aspect of life. Family. Crime. Religion. War. Marriage. Death. And its core principles are incompatible with any notion of Western liberty or equality.

Consider this:

Under Sharia, a Muslim can murder a non-Muslim and avoid execution by paying a financial penalty to the family of the deceased.

This is known as Qisas—a system of unequal “retribution” that values lives differently based on gender, religion, and age:

• A Muslim man’s life is worth more than a woman’s
• A Muslim’s life is worth more than a non-Muslim’s
• A child’s life is worth less than an adult’s

This is codified Islamic law in multiple Sharia jurisdictions. And it doesn’t stop there.

Non-Muslims under Islamic rule are called Dhimmis. This isn’t a historical footnote—it’s a formal class under Sharia. Dhimmitude means:

• You cannot hold government office
• You cannot serve in the police or military
• You are banned from owning weapons
• You must pay a Jizya tax, even for your children
• You cannot publicly express your religion
• You cannot build new houses of worship

Failure to pay the Jizya could result in loss of property—or worse. In Islamic history, entire armies were formed by kidnapping the sons of non-Muslims who couldn’t pay. These children—the Mamluks and Janissaries—were enslaved, converted, and turned into soldiers of Islamic conquest.

This is what Sharia means.
Not personal devotion. Domination.
Not coexistence. Subjugation.

And this is the system being quietly introduced through Islamic “education” in Texas and across the West.