Azhar Bande-Ali was in a plane that had a mechanical problem that prevented it from landing, which provoked a spiritual problem;  he worried that the plane would crash, and he would die. So he created a score card to figure out whether he would wind up in Heaven or Hell — whether he had been a good Muslim, faithfully following each of the five pillars of Islam.

That’s the premise of “Bad Muslim,” which is structured around five elaborate anecdotes from his life, one for each pillar.

Several of the stories are charming; the best feel instructive.  He tells how at age 13 he was selected to lead his mosque in reciting the Nazam prayer at Eid – and then left out an entire verse (He puts a point under Hell for having failed the first pillar, profession of faith.) But afterward, despite his error, a long line of his fellow congregants lined up to hug him and congratulate him – a show of kindness and community.

One story deals lightly with current political tensions when he goes on a cross-country trip and meets someone with whom he bonds during a hike, who he discovers is a Trump supporter (rather implausibly by seeing that the man had tattooed his ass with Trump’s face)

One of the stories made me uncomfortable, although it begins with an amusing riff on what a person’s differing response to rain (umbrella, poncho or garbage bag) says about your character.  He tells us he went to a protest for Gaza at Washington Square Park,  with an umbrella he had stolen, which made his fellow protesters give him the side eye, because, as he eventually realized, the umbrella had the same colors as an Israeli flag.

Like the plane he was on, a good number of the individual jokes spread throughout the stories in “Bad Muslim” don’t quite land.  Some one-liners simply aren’t that funny; some just need a little tweaking: “Muslim people love to judge. I’m surprised there aren’t more Muslim people on the Supreme Court. Their uniform is basically a burka.” (“More” Muslims on the Supreme Court?)

The relative lack of polish in the stand-up comedy would have mattered less if Bande-Ali had not repeatedly interrupted the flow of his storytelling with asides on whether his punchlines were working or not.  Laughter need not be the only goal. What’s best about “Bad Muslim” are the engaging stories he tells.

Bad Muslim will be performed again on April 20, at Chain Theater and live-streamed as part of the New York City Fringe Festival.