A sprawling Islamic complex is planning to open in the Austin suburb of Leander – before being transferred to a national Islamic trust that was identified in federal terrorism prosecutions tied to Hamas financing.

Renaissance Academy, an Islamic school aiming to teach graduates to “fully live the values of Islam” and “play a leading role in American society,” is planning a new 19-acre campus in rural Leander, according to its website. It has already raised $3.3 million and closed on the property. 

School officials plan to donate the campus through a “waqf,” an irrevocable religious endowment, to a national Islamic trust such as the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT).

“Once the expansion project is complete and the real estate assets are free and clear of any loans, we will WAQF these under NAIT or alike organization,” the school’s website reads. 

Federal prosecutors named NAIT an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 2004 trial of the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation, which prosecutors charged with acting as a front for Hamas. Per the Hudson Institute, NAIT was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Gov. Greg Abbott designated a foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organization under Texas law in 2025. 

The school published a promotional video showing the new campus. Amy Mek, of the Rise Align Ignite Reclaim Foundation, posted the video on X. 

 

“What the hell is going on in Texas? You’re losing the state to Islamists,” wrote national commentator Mark Levin in response to Mek’s post.

The Dallas Express reached out to Renaissance Academy for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication. 

The Campus

The Islamic school will include a mosque, division-level buildings for preschool and K-12 education, an auditorium, an athletic center, track fields, and other “essential amenities.” 

“The envisioned campus will holistically cater to our community’s spiritual, academic, and extracurricular needs,” the school website reads. 

School officials decided on a central location due to the region’s northward growth, according to the website. 

“However, the scarcity of shovel-ready land with readily available utilities within our budget posed a challenge during our property search,” the website reads.

The location at 650 Private Road 920 provides access to both western and eastern communities and offers sufficient flexibility for future development. School officials said it is in a “secure and welcoming neighborhood.”

Moving Forward

After the new campus is completed, the property will be registered under the Austin-based 501(c)3 Renaissance Education Foundation, according to the school’s website. 

Then, organizers are planning to give it through “waqf” to a national Islamic trust like NAIT.

“When we complete the build up of the new facility, the assets will be WAQF under a national organization such as NAIT,” the website reads.

For a waqf, the property needs to be “free and clear of any loans,” which the Islamic school completed in 2020, according to the website. Officials plan to make the endowment after the expansion.

“Having independence over the control of the assets allows the foundation to execute the expansion plans with much-needed flexibility,” the website reads.

Outside Dallas, the East Plano Islamic Center sparked backlash after planning a massive Islamic complex known as EPIC City – now renamed to “The Meadow” – in rural Collin County, The Dallas Express reported. Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation in 2025, and Abbott signed a bill that year to reject sharia communities.

The Dallas Express reached out to the offices of Abbott and Paxton for comment on the Islamic complex in Leander, but did not hear back in time for publication.

‘NAIT Is Unique’

NAIT serves as a “waqf or trust organization” for mosques across America, according to its website. The group has two important features: permanent status and the “unalterable sanctity of the will of the donor.”

“Even the donor cannot alter his/her intent at a later time. Thus, NAIT is unique among national Muslim non-for-profit organizations,” the website reads. “NAIT does not manage, organize, or interfere with any masjid or Islamic center.”

If a mosque is part of the NAIT network, its leaders may not change the use of the property or do things like “permit an un-Islamic activity.” 

“In addition to its waqf role, NAIT develops financial vehicles that are compatible with both the Shari’ah (Islamic law) and the American law,” the website reads.

Traditional sharia penal law includes punishments based on retaliation and fixed penalties for certain crimes, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Punishments include death for apostasy, losing a hand for theft, and stoning for extramarital affairs.

Terror Ties

Two Muslim Brotherhood members – Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib – launched NAIT in 1973 to expand the network’s influence in America, according to the Hudson Institute.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hasan al-Banaa, who said, “jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded,” as The Dallas Express reported. 

The group has numerous terrorist branches across the globe, including HASM and Liwa al-Thawra. Meanwhile, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, is currently serving a life sentence for plotting an armed insurrection in Egypt. 

Hamas, which launched violent attacks against Israel on October 7, was founded as the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

When federal prosecutors charged the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation in 2004 for acting as a front group for Hamas, they listed NAIT and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as “unindicted co-conspirators.”

The Holy Land Foundation allegedly raised money and supported Hamas through an account with the Islamic Society of North America, held at NAIT, federal prosecutors claimed in 2008. 

“ISNA [Islamic Society of North America] and NAIT, in fact, shared more with HLF than just a parent organization. They were intimately connected with the HLF and its assigned task of providing financial support to HAMAS,” prosecutors wrote. “ISNA checks deposited into the ISNA/NAIT account for the HLF were often made payable to ‘the Palestinian Mujahadeen.’”

A federal court ultimately ruled that publicly naming NAIT as an “unindicted co-conspirator” violated its Fifth Amendment rights, but declined to expunge the designation or invalidate evidence introduced at trial. 

“No US Court or US government agency has ever accused, or charged NAIT for any crimes, wrongdoing, or any unlawful activities,” the NAIT website reads. “Islamophobic organizations, right-wing websites, and pundits, along with a handful of attention-seeking public officials continue to tarnish and malign NAIT by false attribution and fear mongering.”

Abbott designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law in November 2025, citing their ties to violent movements across the globe, as The Dallas Express reported.

It remains unclear whether Abbott’s designation and related Texas land restrictions would prevent the Leander campus from being transferred into a NAIT-controlled waqf structure.