Muslim men rarely told me they were surveilled for their cultural values the way Muslim women who wear the hijab were. However, there was one interview where Saleem, a Lebanese American doctor, told me of an encounter he had with a nurse and a patient that highlighted this dichotomy of the “good” and “bad” Muslim. Although he was born in Lebanon, Saleem is an American-born citizen because his father was naturalized. He moved to Chicago to complete his medical residency. He told me people think he is a European immigrant when they encounter him because he has a lighter skin tone. He said that when they realize he has a Muslim name, their interactions became more hostile. He recalled an incident where his patient demanded a new doctor after he realized that Saleem was a Muslim by reading his name tag.

XREF: Dissonance between physical appearance and name-based signaling; connects to literature on name-based discrimination in hiring and service encounters.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 288