Your comedy takes stereotypes of Islam head-on. What message are you trying to get across?
I want people to know that Muslim women are not all oppressed, repressed or depressed. And I think that even before I spoke, just standing on stage doing stand-up, that in itself broke all those stereotypes that white working-class men in Britain probably had of Muslim women. When you see [images of] women in Afghanistan, and then you see a woman in Britain doing stand-up comedy dressed in exactly what they wear, it breaks down all the stereotypes about what Muslim women are all about. I was saying, “I choose to be onstage and I choose to wear the head scarf; nobody is forcing me to do this.” And I’m funny and people are laughing, and I’m entertaining and I’m making money off of it. So I win.
How have British audiences reacted?
They just about know how to deal with the word Muslim. I mean, I do jokes like, “People say to me, why does your mother walk five steps behind your father?” And they listen, like, “Damn, why does she walk five steps behind?” And I joke, “Well, you know, he looks better from behind.” And they listen seriously because they really want to know.
How has the British Muslim community reacted?
I did a gig recently where they were horrible–the men were. The women were really laughing, but the men had such a problem with it. At one point I said, “I’m going to talk about Mecca”–because I do a bit about when I went on pilgrimage and someone pinched my bum, and I say it was the hand of God–and they all started tutting and booing. And I thought, if you come to watch me, you know what to expect. Why did you come to give me a hard time? So I didn’t do that material, but I did my other stuff.
I understand that last year you were attacked by a group of Muslim men in a comedy club in East London.
It was a few Muslim fundamentalists who said I shouldn’t be doing it because I was a woman. They say that, in Islam, women are meant to be really subdued and reserved, which is why they are meant to cover themselves up. But you know, there’s no difference in me being a teacher standing in front of 30 kids every day, making them laugh, and doing the same thing in a comedy club. I’m standing there, giving people information–which is all true–I’m making them laugh, and they’re learning something at the same time. It’s what I used to do as a teacher, except people are enjoying it now.
Is your family supportive?
It’s not what they wanted me to do. All they want for me in my life is to get married and have kids. And my mom says things like, “I’m so glad you’re doing well because it gets you in the papers and, that way, all Muslims will get to know about you and then you have a better chance of finding a husband.” It all boils down to one common denominator–a husband. My mom’s a teacher, but what her real occupation is–she has this directory of all the single Muslim men in Britain–is ringing up the parents to arrange a meeting.
Do you think of yourself as a role model for other Muslim women?
That was never my intention, but I suppose I am. Maybe there are Muslim girls who want to be like me one day–not necessarily to be a stand-up comedian, but maybe they have been given courage to go out there and do whatever they want to do. And they can see that their religion doesn’t have to be a barrier.
Does Islam have a particular tradition of humor?
When you think of Islam, nobody thinks of humor. The whole point of Islam is that it’s a very serious religion and that you should be very fanatical about it. [But] I’m sure that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, really did laugh. It says in the Qur’an that he used to make jokes with his friends. You just never hear about it.
