Huda Fahmy challenges the western preconceived notion that Muslim values and Muslim attire such as the hijab are restrictive and oppressive. Huda refutes this claim by stating that the Hijab and Muslim values of modesty are empowering and gives her more control over how others perceive her. This is especially apparent in a comic where she effectively neutralizes a person’s bandwagon mentality by stating that Islamic values governing the contact between women and men are empowering in their modesty.

Western preconceived nations are mostly based on what they see in the news which depicts Afghan, Iranian and Iraqi women being forced to wear Burqas by an oppressive regime such as the Taliban, ISIS or the Islamist government. Some middle eastern laws and customs forbidding divorce, women receiving an education, free movement and essentially being the property of their husband. These events could have informed their opinions of Islam victimizing and brutalizing women. But Hda refutes this by stating that wearing a Hijab is a free choice that she embraces as it allows her to adhere to religious values and Modesty gives her more control over “who touches her body”.

Huda Fahmy uses her frequent interactions with ignorant or unaware Caucasians to highlight the falsehoods in their arguments, beliefs and perceptions. She uses these opportunities to build solidarity with other western-Muslims who share the same experience and make others more aware of the truth of Muslim identity. She tries to falsify common Muslim stereotypes such as being the victim of oppressive religious values, being terrorists or suicide bombers, being immigrants, not being able to speak good English, etc. One example of this is a comic depicting her describing a party to a friend over the phone at a clothing store

I think that the humour in Huda Fahmy’s comics mostly come from irony, people being able to relate to the different scenarios portrayed and the reactions that all characters have to the falsification of ignorant views. As Humour mostly stems from the universal experience of being a western-Muslim, they can build solidarity and unity by sharing their experiences and empowering others to better handle them. The stories that some may tell of successfully deterring racist comments or being vindicated may be empowering to Muslims who begin to doubt themselves as everybody around them has bigoted views of Islam.