Tarrant GOP leader facing ouster because he’s Muslim is ‘proud to be a Republican’
The last few months have been hard for Shahid Shafi and his family.
For months, a group of people within the Tarrant County Republican Party have called for the 53-year-old surgeon and Southlake councilman to be removed from the post of vice chairman because he’s Muslim.
Those behind the move say this is not about religion but whether Shafi is loyal to Islam and Islamic law or connected “to Islamic terror groups.”
“I’m used to facing challenges in life,” Shafi told the Star-Telegram on Wednesday, noting that people tried to use religion against him each time he ran for city council. “And this is just yet another challenge. I remain very confident and positive that this too shall pass.
“I’m a Muslim and I’m an American. And I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, but there are some people who think that way and they have tried to use that in their political opposition to me.”
Republican Dorrie O’Brien, a Republican precinct chairwoman from Grand Prairie, asked earlier this year for Shafi’s appointment to be reconsidered. Shafi was appointed to the post in July.
Tarrant precinct chairmen discussed the issue behind closed doors during their Nov. 10 meeting. A vote is scheduled Jan. 10 for the Tarrant County GOP executive committee, which is made up of precinct chairmen.
After the Star-Telegram recently reported that the effort to remove Shafi had expanded to other Republicans with Muslim ties, the issue gained media attention across the country.
Others targeted include the party chairman, Darl Easton; a precinct chairwoman and area leader, Kelly Canon; and a precinct chairwoman who is married to a Muslim, Lisa Grimaldi Abdulkareem.
“This is where we are in Tarrant County today,” O’Brien recently posted on Facebook. “Divided by those who won’t see the stealth jihad and by those who do. Those who’ve drunk the Islamic Kool-Aid and those who haven’t.”
Tarrant proposal
O’Brien and others made the issue public by making posts on social media.
“Dr. Shafi is a practicing, Mosque-attending muslim who claims not to follow sharia law or know what it is,” activist Sara Legvold, a former State Republican Executive Committee member who has called Muslims “vermin,” wrote on Facebook in calling for his removal. “As a practicing muslim that is an overt falsehood. Sharia law is anathema to our Constitution because Islam recognizes no other law but shariah.
“As the most conservative county in the nation, this is a demoralizing blow to the conservative rank and file of the Republican Party across the nation and in Texas.”
A vote on the proposal to remove Shafi was delayed until after the Nov. 6 election, which saw Tarrant County turn blue in the U.S. Senate race.
Shafi, an immigrant from Pakistan, said he became a U.S. citizen in 2009 and soon joined the Republican Party.
He said he’s not associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, nor the Council on American-Islamic Relations, “nor any terrorist organization.” He also said he supports Second Amendment rights and American Laws for American Courts. And he said he’s never promoted Shariah.
Shariah is a set of core principles derived from the teachings of the Quran, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“If somebody is wondering if one can be a Muslim and a ... good American, I am a living example of that,” he said. “Sharia Law — I have no interest in living under Sharia Law.”
He stayed quiet for months, but finally decided to speak to the media because he realized the effort by a small group of Republicans to remove him was putting the entire party in a bad light.
And since the request to reconsider his appointment was voiced, Shafi said he has been “overwhelmed with support.”
“It has reaffirmed my faith in the party and reaffirmed my faith in the country,” he said. “I’m very proud to be an American and very proud to be a Republican.”
This fight, Shafi said, isn’t about the position he holds or even, really, about him.
“I think a higher principle is at stake here,” he said. “When the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they didn’t sign it to get new offices in the new Republic. They pledged their lives, they pledged their fortunes and they pledged their sacred honor to the principle of liberty and religious freedom and equality.
“Clearly our situation in Tarrant County is not at the same level, but it is the same principle,” he said. “The reason I’m standing and fighting is for that principle of equality and for nondiscrimination based on religion.”
Shafi support
Easton, who appointed Shafi over the summer, said in a statement that local GOP leadership “unequivocally rejects the religious discrimination being demonstrated by a few members of our Party. Intolerance, based on one’s faith, has no place in the construct of Tarrant County GOP policy, and violates the very principles and moral values upon which our Nation and the Republican Party were founded.”
Republicans across the state — including the Republican Party of Texas — have voiced support for Shafi and religious freedom. Easton noted this support “further proves that the efforts to oust Dr. Shafi are being brought on by a fringe few and not the mainstream of the Republican Party.”
There’s an online petition calling for Easton to step down, but he has said he won’t.
“Discrimination against Dr. Shafi b/c he’s Muslim is wrong,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz recently tweeted. “The Constitution prohibits any religious test for public office & the First Amendment protects religious liberty for every faith. The Party of Lincoln should welcome everybody & celebrate Liberty.”
U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess joined those speaking out for Shafi.
“Dr. Shahid Shafi is a bright, energetic, and principled leader who is willing to serve,” Burgess, R-Pilot Point, wrote. “Over the decade that I have known him, Dr. Shafi has shown great dedication to the community. ... The Tarrant County Republican Party should be welcoming him to its leadership ranks.”
House Speaker Joe Straus and Land Commissioner George P. Bush have also spoken out in support of Shafi.
The State Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution stressing that members have the “freedom to practice all faiths.”
And Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey wrote an op-ed referencing the Tarrant County proposal, stating that the party “firmly opposes all racism and religious bigotry.”
The Tarrant County Young Republicans group also encouraged local Republicans to keep Shafi in his post. Members asked for those calling for Shafi’s removal to deliver apologies to Shafi or resignations to the executive committee.
“Dr. Shafi has conducted himself so well as a Republican that all must recognize his detractors oppose him based upon religious prejudice rather than ideological difference,” according to the group’s statement. “We find this to be absolutely unconscionable, indefensible, and immoral.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2018 at 12:00 AM.
