Nigerian
woman tearfully prayed and recited Koranic verses as she won a beauty
pageant exclusively for Muslim women in the Indonesian capital city of
Jakarta on September 18, 2013, Wednesday. This beauty pageant challenges
Miss World contest which will take place in Indonesia on September 28,
2013.
The
20 finalists, who were all required to wear headscarves, put on a
glittering show for the final of Muslimah World, strolling up and down a
catwalk in elaborately embroidered dresses and stilettos. However, the
contestants from six countries were covered from head to foot, and as
well as beauty they were judged on how well they recited Koranic verses
and their views on Islam in the modern world.
After
a show in front of an audience of mainly religious scholars and devout
Muslims, a panel of judges picked Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola from Nigeria as
the winner.
After hearing her name, the 21-year-old winner from Nigeria knelt down and prayed, then wept as she recited a Koranic verse.
Obabiyi
Aishah Ajibola said it was “thanks to almighty Allah” that she had won
the contest. She also told in her interview that the event “was not
really about competition”.
“We’re just trying to show the world that Islam is beautiful,” she said.
The winner of the contest received $2,200 and trips to Mecca and India as prizes.
Organisers
said the pageant challenged the idea of beauty put forward by the
British-run Miss World pageant, and also showed that opposition to the
event could be expressed non-violently.
Eka
Shanti, who founded the pageant three years ago after losing her job as
a TV news anchor for refusing to remove her headscarf, bills the
contest as “Islam’s answer to Miss World”.
It would be recalled that thousands have taken to the streets in Indonesia in recent weeks to protest Miss World, denouncing the contest as “pornography” and burning effigies of the organisers.
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