(BuzzFeed) A Muslim cleric who was ousted from at least two mosques amid claims of sexual misconduct with young women he’d mentored now works at a Texas mosque that’s standing by him despite a former employer’s warning and a civil lawsuit.
The Grand Prairie Islamic Center in a Dallas suburb threw a welcome dinner upon hiring Imam Zia Ul-Haq Sheikh in August and encouraged mosque members to bring their families. The celebration came months after a mosque in nearby Irving issued an unprecedented alert to Muslim leaders across the country warning that Sheikh was asked to resign after a young woman “reported that the imam had engaged in sexual misconduct with her.”
The woman, a teenager he’d counseled since she was 13, filed a lawsuit in July alleging that Sheikh coerced her into sex with him at a Texas motel after years of “grooming,” including lewd requests via video chat.
