Being Muslim in America means, among such joys as hearing cable TV anchors accuse you of being inherently violent, sometimes getting asked some awkward and maybe-not-appropriate questions by non-Muslim friends. That may be especially true during the days leading up to this year's Halloween, for which a number of misguided Americans are apparently dressing up as members of ISIS.
If you are considering dressing up as a member of ISIS for Halloween, let us give you three pieces of advice. First, don't. Second, if you ignore the first point, don't seek out a Muslim-American friend or one-time acquaintance to ask for costume help. Third, if you ignore the first two pieces of advice and ask a Muslim-American person you went to school with years ago for help putting together your ISIS costume, absolutely do not do it like this:
@ellievhall A hijabi friend of mine got this text from a former college classmate: pic.twitter.com/AyQxqTQ7B8
— Ismat Sarah Mangla (@ismat) October 28, 2014
That's from Ismat Sarah Mangla, a writer at the International Business Times. Mangla's friend was apparently solicited for help securing "the face thing" by an acquaintance who had the extreme misjudgment to think that a Muslim person would be totally on board with a Halloween costume conflating all observant Muslims with an extremist terrorist group. (The assumption that all Muslims own "the face thing" whether they veil or not is just an extra bonus stereotype thrown in for fun.)
The emailer did at least sign off with the always-friendly, although in this case somehow also super-condescending, "thaaanks babe." Generally, though, consider this a lesson in favors not to ask your Muslim friends, how not to ask them, and what not to dress up as for Halloween.
