NORTH CAROLINA – The Muslim Student Association in Guilford College in North Carolina has hosted a comedy show to counter hate with humor and showcase challenges facing Muslims in today’s America.

“I definitely want to use this (event) to make a statement that we can have events like student panels and movie discussions about very dramatic movies and their impact, but also it’s like we’re people, we can have fun too,” said MSA member senior Rashad Clark, an organizer of the event, told The Guilfordian on Friday, April 20.

“We can put on events that are enjoyable.”

Clark was talking about the group’s event held last April 10 in which they hosted a show by standup comedian Danish Maqbool.

Maqbool, who has been doing stand-up for three years, performed a comedy show in the Gilmer Room of Founders Hall.

Using comedy, Clark hoped Maqbool’s show could relate to MSA’s purpose as an organization.

“The goal is to not deviate too much from the mission of the club, though, because the mission has always been education and engagement about Islam,” said Clark.

Maqbool connected his content to experiences as both a Muslim and Pakistani American. He also addressed negative terms others would use toward him.

“I had a dude call me a terrorist at 9 am,” said Maqbool. “That’s a little early right? I will say though, he meant that because 9 am thoughts, those are some fresh thoughts.”

Students such as sophomore Mariame Meite attended the event to see how Maqbool’s identity would relate to his comedy show.

“I just wanted to see what a Muslim comedian would be like since I am Muslim and to see if he would throw in Muslim jokes and see what his perspective on comedy was,” said Meite.

“I think it was funny. There were definitely some stale moments, some of the points were a little controversial, but it was fine.”