Laughing at it never hurts

In this BBC article a relatively rare thing is highlighted: Muslim humour. One thing that always strikes me about Muslims is their lack of perspective. Their inability to take a criticism, let alone a joke. So it's a good sign that Muslims are doing stand-up. Taking a crack at the world, as well as at themselves.

Azhar Usman, who was born in Chicago of Indian background and who wears the full black robe with the full black beard, tells how faces drop when he gets on a plane and the sighs of relief when it lands.

This made me laugh too. It takes the edge of our fear of every man with a bushy black beard, and it shows that the man telling the joke is aware of how people look at him, and more importantly, why.

[Tissa Hami, female Muslim comedian's] act, too, has the absurdities of security at its core. She describes how guards at airports look at her garb and then at her passport, before wondering whether the passport is fake.

She asks dryly if it would be clever to fake a passport but then put on it "Birthplace: Iran."

She also makes light of her burning anger at full body searches at airports: "I was hoping to save that for the honeymoon," she says.

Yes. No one should have to be subjected to searches like that. And most people (including Muslims) have done nothing to warrent them. The Israeli airline, El-Al, has had security measures like these in place for decades now. It is a sad reflection on our time, and the status of Muslims in the global village, that every airplane in the world is felt to run the risk that Israeli planes have been facing for so long already. So we might as well laugh. It sure doesn't hurt.