Ms. Marvel

wedding.

“When you hear the call to prayer, that's usually a sign that you're somewhere unsafe on television,” Mikati said. “And all of these things are being reclaimed in this show .... That's really beautiful because those day-today, small moments of our faith have really been taken from us in the media.”

Pillars Fund's initiatives include a Muslim artist database, created in collaboration with and support from The Walt Disney Company, to bring more Muslims into the filmmaking process.

“A superhero story is not a genre where you expect a Muslim to be, and I love that this story is changing that,” Mikati said.

The show touches on issues from surveilling mosques to what wearing head scarves means for some. Khan's friend, the hijab-wearing Nakia Bahadir, is played by Yasmeen Fletcher. One of the most important conversations between Khan and Bahadir

happens in the girls' restroom, where Bahadir talks about how she feels like herself, with a purpose, when she dons her hijab.

Jumana, the teen from Anaheim who plans to wear a hijab in a year or two, said she appreciated the show's portrayal of what the hijab means to some young girls like her.

“My non-Muslim friends already know about my decision and respect it,” she said. “But if more people can realize that by watching this show, that's great.”

Fletcher said she has been touched by such powerful responses.

“The whole point of Nakia's character is to break down the stereotypes around hijabi women,” she said.

For the show's seven writers — four of whom are Pakistani — representing Muslims and South Asians realistically was crucial, said the show's head writer Bisha K. Ali, who is British Pakistani.

“We felt a hunger for being seen in a way that was celebrated and beautiful, and comes from a place of love and compassion,” she said.