Talarico's Campaign Banked $3,000 From A Preacher Who Taught Husbands Could Hit Wives

Nouman Ali Khan, founder of the Bayyinah Institute and a prominent Islamic lecturer with millions of followers on YouTube, made three separate $1,000 contributions to the Democrats campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings reported by The New York Post. The latest check was dated Oct. 19, coinciding with the start of early voting in Texas and coming just one day after Talarico appeared at a halal barbecue restaurant in Irving, a Dallas suburb, to court Muslim voters, though a campaign official said Khan did not attend that event.

Khans public image was badly damaged in 2017 when multiple women accused him of exploiting his religious celebrity status to lure them into secretive relationships, including what they described as sham religious quickie marriages that functioned as cover for sex. Those women further alleged that Khan then pressured them into silence, using his influence and, in at least one case, money to keep the accusations from becoming public.

October 30, 2026

A panel of four Muslim scholars who reviewed the complaints concluded that when women raised concerns about his conduct, Khan apologizes and attempts to buy their silence or threatens them, BuzzFeed News reported at the time. The panels findings reportedly included a screenshot of a bank transfer of nearly $7,000 that one woman characterized as hush money, suggesting a pattern of financial inducements to suppress damaging claims.

A separate panel of six clerics later examined Khans behavior and determined that his actions were unbecoming of any believer, much less someone who teaches about the Holy Quran. That assessment underscored the gravity of the allegations, given that Khans public persona is built on his role as a religious teacher and moral guide for a large global audience.

Khan has denied any wrongdoing, and his attorney dismissed the accusations as unfounded. Despite those denials, the controversy has lingered for years, raising questions about why a statewide Democratic campaign would accept money from such a polarizing figure without apparent vetting.

Compounding the unease for many observers is Khans own recorded commentary on domestic violence, which critics say crosses a moral line even if framed as religious exegesis. In 2015, two years before the misconduct allegations surfaced, Khan posted a lecture on YouTube titled Hitting Women Thats Messed Up, which begins as a rebuke of Muslim men who misuse scripture to justify abuse.

Roughly 10 minutes into the talk, however, Khan describes what he portrays as a narrow exception involving a wife is actually caught when her husband sees her with another man. He loses his mind, and what does he do? He hits her, Khan said in the video, before continuing, You snap, now he hit, or he pushed her, something he did and he feels bad. How could I have done that? Allah says, I will give you license in that crazy case. Ill let you get away with that one.'

Khan stressed that this supposed allowance applies only in cases of repeated and perpetual infidelity from a wife that drives the man nuts, and even then he advised that a husband should restrict himself to a tap, or whatever. Still, the notion that any form of spousal violence could be religiously excused has alarmed critics, particularly in a political climate where Democrats routinely claim to champion womens rights and condemn violent rhetoric in all contexts.

In the same lecture, Khan also delved into what he called one of the Qurans most unusual scenarios, in which a man raising four orphaned girls may, once they gain a certain age, marry one of them or two of them or three of them. Is that a usual case? Khan asked his audience, acknowledging that such a situation is rare even as he affirmed that a man marrying the orphaned girls he raised is nonetheless religiously permitted.

The Talarico campaign has attempted to distance itself from the donor while refusing to return the funds, insisting that the contribution was unsolicited and does not reflect the candidates values. Our campaign did not solicit a contribution from this individual and condemns violent rhetoric in all its forms, spokesman JT Ennis told The Post, adding, This individual is one of more than 1.6 million contributors and does not speak for our campaign.

Khan did not respond to a request for comment, leaving his past statements and the unresolved allegations to speak for themselves as his money continues to sit in a high-profile Democratic campaign account. For conservatives, the episode highlights a familiar double standard: a party that routinely lectures the public on extremism and misogyny appears comfortable banking checks from a preacher whose own peers have branded his conduct unbecoming of any believer, even as Talarico, a former teacher and Presbyterian seminarian locked in a tight race against Republican Ken Paxton, seeks to become the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.