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| The newly crowned the Muslimah World 2013 Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola (C) of Nigeria |
JAKARTA (AFP) – A Nigerian woman tearfully prayed and recited
Koranic verses as she won a beauty pageant exclusively for Muslim women
in the Indonesian capital Wednesday, a riposte to the Miss World contest
that has sparked hardline anger.
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.
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.
While the event in a Jakarta
shopping mall paled in comparison to Miss World on the resort island of
Bali, in which scores of contestants are competing, Ajibola was
nevertheless overwhelmed.
Upon hearing her name, the 21-year-old knelt down and prayed, then wept as she recited a Koranic verse.
She
said it was “thanks to almighty Allah” that she had won the contest.
She received 25 million rupiah ($2,200) and trips to Mecca and India as
prizes.
Ajibola told AFP before the final that the event “was not really about competition”.
“We’re just trying to show the world that Islam is beautiful,” she said.
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”.
“This year we deliberately held our event just
before the Miss World final to show that there are alternative role
models for Muslim women,” she told AFP.
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