By Written by Marwa Adina and Dena Igusti.
Have you ever played an adult card game and came across a tasteless, racist joke or a fake-deep philosophical you-just-don’t-get-it hipster reference? Do you want to use humor as a coping mechanism to the marginalization and cultural pressures you face on a daily basis? Do you want to do something haram that you can actually get away with in front of your mother? Look no further than Haram Green Cards, created by Nas Jab!
The times are rough for the Muslim community — from executive bans to Islamophobia, the community and its supporters are fighting for their civilian rights. To help us cope with the current events and provide an educational resource in a fun way, MonkeyDoDo entertainment, founded by Nas Jab and comedian Atheer Yacoub, took a shot at the Trump times by creating a card game for adults called “The Haram Green Cards.”
Do you want to do something haram that you can actually get away with in front of your mother? Look no further than Haram Green Cards, created by Nas Jab!
The card deck is set up to be a question-and-answer game. We even tested it out ourselves to see what it was all about and here is what happened:
The game requires four players at a minimum, but we were three. Luckily, there is a rule that makes room for an imaginary player that can be introduced to the game. Ironically, that player is no other than the soul of a brutal dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, coming back from the dead to be a menace once more.
Each player gets 10 answer cards. The Card Dictator draws one green card (a question card) and asks the question. All the other players, including our imaginary friend, drop an answer card in response to the question.
The Card Dictator then chooses the answer they think is best, and the winner of that card earns one point. That same person becomes the new Card Dictator (Gaddafi’s cards are chosen and dropped at random with any oversight from the other players). After each question round, a new answer card is replaced (sometimes two cards if the question requires a two answer drop) so all players must hold 10 answer cards at all times.
Instead of wasting your money on a Green Card that won’t even guarantee your entry back into this country, purchase your set of Haram Green Cards that won’t put your status or relationship with extended family at stake.
To our surprise, the answers went from educational to super funny. For example, the following question was asked during one of our rounds:
“_____ is halal on the streets and haram in the sheets.”
The demo answers on their site were as follows:
- The rebellious daughter of sheikh
- My wife/cousin
- Bernie Sanders
- Reza Aslan
Another example of a question that came up during our game was:
“What did I bring from Saudi Arabia?”
Our answers were:
- A homoerotic prince
- A beheading
- My third wife
- The TSA
Fun and inclusive, this game provides tongue-in-cheek humor that is painfully relevant to today’s climate.
The question cards, such as, “If it weren’t for the TSA, I’d bring _____ in my carry-on” set a wide range for the tone of the game, from light-hearted to dark humor. Although a lot of the cards in the pile have cultural and religious references, there are asterisks that provide a short description of specific terminology. That way, we can prevent your non-Muslim friends from calling authorities because you used a card with the word jihad.
Nas worked long and hard to ensure not only our safety as Muslims, but also our enjoyment in watching others fear us when we use cards that say the rebellious daughter of a shiekh, majoring in the arts and marrying a Jew. Even if you skipped Islamic Studies school as a kid, you get to brush up on everything you missed while awkwardly nodding your head as if you knew the reference before you saw the card.
Instead of wasting your money on a Green Card that won’t even guarantee your entry back into this country, purchase your set of Haram Green Cards that won’t put your status or relationship with extended family at stake. Get your classic card-game fun without the anticipation of tone-deaf racism at https://haramgreencards.com/!