SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education will now require high school social studies classes to teach about Mohammed’s taking of female captives as “harem slaves.” Friday’s vote to adopt the curriculum changes, which included other additions to the state-mandated curriculum on early Islam, came after objections from dozens of Muslim speakers.
The board voted 8 -4 on Friday to approve the curriculum rewrite after months of debate. The changes included referring to Mohammed as the “Prophet of Islam” rather than “the Prophet Mohammed,” after State Board of Education member Brandon Hall objected during the meeting, saying not everyone accepts Mohammed as a prophet.
During the meeting, Hall objected to using the word “prophet” to describe Mohammed without the clarification “of Islam,” explaining to the board, “I think this just clarifies, because obviously not everyone accepts Mohammed as a prophet. Christian Texans definitely wouldn’t accept someone as a prophet who married a six-year-old little girl and consummated the marriage at nine.”
In addition, the curriculum changes, which are scheduled to take effect in 2030, require students to learn about Mohammed’s “brutal” military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, and the normalization of slavery in early Islam. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has sharply criticized the curriculum changes.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the organization was designated, alongside the Muslim Brotherhood, as a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in 2025.
In addition to in-person testimony before the board during the week-long curriculum session, CAIR issued a written statement on the changes. On the organization’s website, Government Affairs and Legislative Coordinator Sameeha Rizvi wrote, “Texas classrooms should teach students to think critically about history — not memorize a single, distorted narrative written to demonize a faith practiced by over a billion people worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of Texans. These standards don’t inform students; they indoctrinate them.”
The Texas State Board of Education made curriculum changes that will include teaching about radical Islam in four high school courses: U.S. History, World History, World Geography and U.S. Government. Board member Hall likened the effort to change the curriculum, which also included a focus on the importance of Christianity in history courses, to the historic Battle of San Jacinto.
In a social media post on X, Hall wrote, “Friday is the Battle of San Jacinto for the Texas Social Studies standards. This is the final push to roll back decades of hist. revisionism, teach USA exceptionalism, the factual Christian foundations of the country, and the truth about Islam. Republicans must hold the line.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.