You also talk about going to Texas and seeing the silver ring movement, where teenagers pledge abstinence until marriage and are given these rings to wear as a reminder of their commitment.

Yeah, had you heard about that?

No, never.

Isn't it amazing? It's in every newspaper in Europe and in England, and I talk about it here and people don't know what I'm talking about. It's your country, and you don't know about it?

How were you received in Texas, anyway?

They tried to convert me to Christianity.

Really?

Honestly, I had e-mails every day from Christians saying they wanted to save me, and when I died did I know where I was going to go, and didn't I want to go to heaven, and, would heaven allow Muslims in?

But a lot of those people are virgins -- they wear it on their sleeves. They go to these carnivals and celebrate being a virgin. I met this guy there with his girlfriend, and they said they had been going out for five years and had never had sex and were going to wait until they got married. And they said, oh, we have been so tempted, but that temptation has made our relationship stronger, and we've now written a book about it -- that is so American. You've written a book about it?

Did they get your comedy?

Comedy? (laughs) They were like, why are you here to do comedy? We want to convert you!

In your show, you make a joke that if nuns are all married to God, then God must be a polygamist. I thought that was pretty funny, but it didn't go over very well with the crowd.

I know. That never goes down well, anywhere. That's why I do it. When I did that in Edinburgh, people were like, can we laugh? But some people came up to me later and said it really made them think. Nuns wear rings because they're married to God. So all these women are showing their commitment to God. And how do you know he's showing that commitment to you? It's meant to be hilarious. But I know it made people feel uncomfortable.

You used to wear a burqa. Why did you stop?

The reason you're meant to wear it is because men are meant to be sexually attracted by hair. But I've tried, it doesn't work! (laughs) And I thought, men are the weak ones, yeah? They should be wearing the burqas, they should be locked up in the house, and women should be out. Why is it that those guys who can't control themselves are let out, and we're the ones that have to wear the burqas? You can be a perfectly good Muslim without wearing it. You know, it's not what you wear on your head, it's what you do with your life.

One of the letters you read onstage was from a Muslim man who first berated you for being a bad Muslim, and then asked you out for coffee. Being Indian myself, I've seen that type of behavior -- an Indian man, a perfect stranger, once yelled at me on the street for wearing a tank top, and then asked for my phone number.

[Muslim men] are attracted to [strong women], because normally they would get subservient women who would do what they wanted them to do. But actually, what they'd really like is somebody who is comfortable in their own skin. They criticize you for being yourself because they can't cope with it. Usually, the balance of power is on the man's side. It's OK for men to sleep around, it's OK for men to have girlfriends before marriage, it's OK for a man to go out with white women, but if a woman does it, she's a slut and nobody wants to marry her. That's terrible! And yet they're still interested in [strong women] because it's something different.

Do people really think you look like Dobby?

I was walking down the street once in New York and was wearing my burqa, and somebody said that I looked like Dobby, the elf from "Harry Potter." And then I went to watch the film, and Dobby was awful! I couldn't believe someone called me Dobby.

That is a pretty horrible thing for someone to say to you -- that, and the comment made by one of the other letter writers you mention in your show, the Jewish lesbian from the Midwest who said, "I can't imagine what it must be like to be as hated as you are."

I know! I was like, where are you getting this information from? I'm not that hated!

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