The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport was mulling the installation of special washing rooms to facilitate prayers by its Muslim passengers. A DFW spokesman told The Epoch Times Saturday that the airport has shelved those plans after objections by the governor of Texas.
The airport was “in the process of evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D” for international passengers, the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Terminal D is one of five terminals at DFW. The terminal has more than 30 gates, out of what the airport lists as over 160 total gates. It also has a connected hotel, the Grand Hyatt.
With every proposed project in the whole airport, DFW management considers several factors, including “operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs,” before granting approval, the spokesperson said.
The prayer washing project had not yet reached the official evaluation point when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott registered his opposition to such facilities.
“Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others,” Abbott wrote on his X account Friday, and thus the airport’s “plans to install Islamic wudu washing facilities” were “illegal.”
The governor announced that he had taken action so his state would “not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities.” He directed a review of all state grants to both DFW and an airport in Houston “for possible revocation” and also referred the issue to the Department of Transportation for its own investigation.
Abbott also included links to letters that he had sent to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and DFW’s CEO Christopher McLaughlin. He copied U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Duffy letter, and the mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston on his letter to the DFW.
DFW then “accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week,” the spokesperson said. It “determined not to proceed” as the project seemed unlikely to “deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits.”
Reached for comment, the governor’s press office pointed The Epoch Times to a follow-up post by Abbott in which he acknowledged the change of plans by DFW and said, “It was clearly illegal.”
Houston Facility
While the issue appears to be closed at DFW, the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston has had a wudu washing facility in place for close to two years now.
In late October 2024, the Houston branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) held an official recognition ceremony to celebrate the Houston airport as “one of the first airports in the U.S. to offer such amenities,” and for “setting a new standard for inclusivity and traveler comfort.”
CAIR-Houston said at the time that wudu is “an Islamic ritual of purification.” The wudu room in Houston includes “benches, coat racks, and space for luggage” and is “fully ADA-accessible,” it said.
The Texas governor is pressing the case that the Houston facility is also illegal. The Epoch Times contacted IAH for comment but received only an automated reply.
In majority Muslim nations, public facilities such as airports often have rooms or at least stations to assist in this cleaning, as observant Muslims pray at five distinct times during most days.
These are less common in nations without Muslim majorities, but some Western airports have them. London’s Heathrow Airport has wudu capabilities in its multi-faith prayer rooms. O’Hare International Airport, which services the Chicago metro, has interfaith chapels with wudu functions.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) did not return The Epoch Times’ request for clarification on whether or not it considered a Muslim washing room to be illegal at an American international airport by the time of publication.
