‘Miss Muslimah USA’ a pageant with a twist

A pageant with a twist has been breaking boundaries since 2017 in the USA. The Miss Muslimah USA pageant promotes modesty & inner beauty of the contestants giving Muslim women an opportunity to change the misconceptions about them.

The founder of the organization Maghrib Shahid who is a hijabi (Muslim woman who wears a head scarf) wanted to give an opportunity to the woman wearing hijab a prospect to take part in an American ceremony on their very own phrases, without having to compromise their religion as she felt that she and many other women bore the brunt of discrimination against Muslims.

The Miss Muslimah USA pageant has their own code of conduct, where contestants can wear a swimsuit, but only if it's a burkini (which covers the entire body); there is a catwalk round but with Muslim hip-hop music only.

"I wanted to give Muslim women the opportunity to change misconceptions about themselves,” said the 39-year-old Maghrib, who is also a modest clothes designer from Columbus, Ohio, and further added that, “If you support Miss Muslimah, in the next 10 years we'll also have that great momentum."