A
beauty pageant, known as Miss World, is currently being held on the
island of Bali in Indonesia. I do not have to really describe the
event with its passing parades of beauty, as almost everyone is aware
of these competitions. Many Indonesians however are opposing this
competition as they feel that it is some kind of soft pornography and
is anti Islam. Indonesia can hardly be described as a hardliner
Islamic country, with people being highly tolerant about other
religions and even Islamic rituals and regimes. Yet, thousands have
taken to the streets in Indonesia in recent weeks to protest against
Miss World, denouncing the contest, and have been burning effigies of
the organizers.
The
Indonesian Government, to appease the agitators, first made the
organizers to pledge that they would drop the famous bikini round,
most hated by Islamic hardliners. However when it was found that the
radical anger was not appeased and the protest movement snowballed,
the Government bowed to pressure and ordered the whole pageant be
moved to the Hindu-majority island of Bali, where it opened on
September 8. Yet the organizers say that the September 28 final would
still be held in and around the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, where
there is considerable hardline influence. Miss World organisers say
that it would be "impossible" to stage the final in Bali,
as even just getting the venue and all the accommodation in Bali is
impossible.
Meanwhile,
to challenge the British run Miss World contest, a new Islamic beauty
contest has come up as a a riposte to the Miss World pageant. This
pageant is called as World Muslimah 2013 and as expected, eschews
any exposure of skin of the participating contestants. To qualify,
the contestants had to be proficient in reading the Koran and have
some academic, sports and cultural achievements. They must wear a
hijab (head scarf) in their daily lives and even submit an essay
titled “My hijab experience”.
Ms.
Eka shanti founded the pageant three years ago after losing her job
as a TV news anchor for refusing to remove her headscarf. She says
that the contest is really Islam’s answer to Miss World. The
contestants taking part in this year's Miss Muslimah pageant, are
between 18 and 27 years old and come from six Muslim countries,
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran. They have
spent the last 10 days in activities ranging from Koran recitation,
to vocational courses in IT and learning the art of wearing make up
correctly. Ms. Eka says that they are all pious, smart, and stylish.
There
were more than 500 contestants, who competed in online rounds to get
to the Muslimah World final in Indonesia, one of the round was about
comparing stories of how they came to wear the headscarf.
The 20
finalists, wearing headscarves, put on a glittering show for the
final of Muslimah World, in front of an audience of mainly religious
scholars and devout Muslims, strolling up and down a catwalk in
elaborately embroidered dresses and stilettos. There was a riot of
colours as they wore head scarves of different textures , gauzy,
woven, satiny and colours, mauve, cerulean, and emerald green. The
winner was awarded a cash prize in addition to a trip to Makkah and
India.
Moral
of story: the beauty shall always shine and razzle-dazzle , whether
in a bikini or in an embroidered dress and a stiletto, whether in a
hizab or without it.
20
September 2013
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