Posted on 10/13/2005 4:58:45 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Like campus queens before her, 20-year-old Anisah Rasheed has puts lots of work into finding the right evening gown and even staying in step for tonight's coronation, when amid all the glitz and pageantry of the day she is officially announced Miss A&T.
The difference this year is that this Miss A&T will wear her jeweled tiara above her hajib, a headcovering worn by Muslim women.
"Once I was elected Miss Freshman I knew I was at a university where they acknowledged everyone is different and it's OK to be different," said Rasheed, a marketing major from Roanoke, Va.
Rasheed is believed to be the first Muslim campus queen at A&T and one of a few Muslim women to don a crown around the world, as beauty pageants in general are frowned upon by many in the Islamic faith.
"Exposing the body is considered degrading, as is the idea that women's worth is associated with how sexually attractive they are," said Yvonne Y. Haddad, professor of the history of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations at Georgetown University in Washington. "In 25 years of research on the Muslim community, I never heard of any," Haddad said.
Earlier this month a Muslim teenager was named Miss England -- also a first.
What Imam Khalid Griggs of Winston-Salem sees in Rasheed is a young woman who, intentionally or not, will make a good ambassador for the Islamic faith.
"I would dare say if her intensions are to provide an image of a positive Muslim female, modestly dressed, and to help dispel some of the false notions about Islam through her actions ... I applaud her," said Griggs, who hopes Rasheed will come to speak to young people at his mosque.
While Miss A&T is selected by the student body as part of student government elections, Rasheed will represent the university in pageants based on talents and abilities, such as last week's Miss National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame pageant in Atlanta, where she was among the top five finalists.
"Everything I do is between me and God," Rasheed said. "I don't exploit myself in any way. I try to stay modest to obey my religion."
Rasheed, who doesn't drink or smoke, understands that she is a role model.
"When children see that sash they are in love with you, and everything you do they want to do," she said.
For the coronation, Rasheed will wear a beaded gold evening gown with a gold hajib, more glamorous than the ones she wears on a daily basis. Rasheed recalls giving in to peer pressure that kept her from wearing the hajib during much of high school. "I felt like an outcast," she said.
That changed when she came to A&T.
"It was a part of me accepting who I am," Rasheed said. "At that point I had learned to accept myself."
As the campus queen, Rasheed won't just look pretty and sit on floats. In addition to her many public appearances, she also is a nonvoting member of student government and organizes campus events. The former sophomore class president plans to unveil "I Can Conquer," a program that includes helping high school students fill out college applications, and "Black Shadow Day," when high school students spend a day shadowing college students.
Rasheed will also nurture "Aggie Enterprise," a program to teach young people about entrepreneurship -- something she knows about firsthand. Rasheed, who comes from a long line of entrepreneurs, won Black Enterprise magazine's 1999 Kidpreneur of the Year Award for "Sister Clowns," a family entertainment business she took over at the age of 14 when her sisters left for college.
Rasheed's long-term goal is to open a children's hospital or hospice -- a place where "Sister Clowns'' would be part of the healing process.
"I always tell her 'I want to be just like you when I grow up,' " joked her mother, Valerie Rasheed-Dale, who has chartered a bus to bring well- wishers from home to the coronation.
Correction: insert=expose. I wouldn't want Islam inserted into anyone.
The history, traditions, and culture of an entire nation (US) becoming subordinate to the cultural traditions & beliefs of a minority. Welcome to the tribal land known as Multiculturalist America.
Earlier this month a Muslim teenager was named Miss England -- also a first.
Wow, what an amazing coincidence! Do you think there's any connection? (/sarc)
PC at it's academic worst. How did that girl win is the first thing that entered my mind when I saw the picture.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Shoudda been a burka!
Damn. If she's the prettiest one there, there must be a lot of ugly chicks at that school.
The NC Aggies take their homecoming seriously. I just can't see the compatibilty with this homecoming queen.
Watch the aggie website homecoming video, it's the complete opposite of what Islamic culture represents:
http://www.ncat.edu/videos/home2005.wmv
They start bombing the whole frikkin world and the world bends over backwards to push them to the top of every heap. sickening
Nope -- too little, too late.
Does anyone else remember a commercial from the 1980's that was a spoof of a "Russian beauty pageant"? It featured a very matronly Russian woman wearing the same dowdy outfit for each part of the competition. During the "swimwear" portion, she just carried a beach ball!
I envision something similar for a "Muslim beauty contest"!
I hear the Hooters in downtown Karachi is holding their weekly wet burqa night tonight ...
Someone on FR's grammar police needs to deconstruct the first paragraph.
Maybe you should ax the writer what she meant.
:)
Well . . . we don't know what the other candidates looked like . . .
Ban Burkhas in schools?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1501650/posts
The more elitist try to ram the Islam life style and religion into out lives the more us non Muslims with balk. Nothing about their life style or religion are appealing.
"Everybody Run, The Homecoming Queen's Got A Suicide Bomb." (With apologies to Julie Brown)
"Rasheed will represent the university in pageants based on talents and abilities, such as last week's Miss National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame pageant in Atlanta, where she was among the top five finalists."
Sounds like she is one of our homegrown "Black Muslims".
But would she allow a Jooo into her home?
So after the homecoming dance will she be stoned to death?
LOL! Good one.
Getting worked up over a home coming queen parade
Of course, treating women as little better than livestock is perfectly acceptable! I will not buy this malarkey from Professor Haddad. Any woman who goes willingly into this 'religion' is an idiot!
Just like the black culture. Soon, we'll see kids wearing the garb to be fashionable...
""Exposing the body is considered degrading, as is the idea that women's worth is associated with how sexually attractive they are," said Yvonne Y. Haddad, professor of the history of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations at Georgetown University in Washington."
Telling a woman that her body (and in many cases her face) is something to be ashamed of and something that must be kept from sight is much more degrading to her.
ROFLMAO!
Based on this statement, if you remove how attractive a woman is from being part of her value, in mulsim society, this women woman are completely worthless as people. Islam sucks.
Yup. I know. I don't even think she's a Muslim. But she's hot.
I imagine her performance will cause a lot of real Muslims to get real conflicted...
Pretty hilarious from a culture that puts women in sacks so everyone is the same.
"Exposing the body is considered degrading, as is the idea that women's worth is associated with how sexually attractive they are,"
Good point.
Dressing modestly has nothing to do with shame.
Dressing like a billboard that says "I'm available" is not an expression of pride.
Touting liberal constructs of immorality is so sixties...
This is the stupidest thing I have heard in a long time...what does it matter what religion a beauty queen is?
That picture is downright creepy.
"That picture is downright creepy."
Everyone is getting ready to Trick or Treat
This looks like something from the Onion.
"Dressing modestly has nothing to do with shame. "
Very true, but wearing a burka that covers your face and every square inch of skin doesn't exactly send a nice message to women.
It was Wendy's.
Homecoming is supposed to be about beauty, western style. I find no beauty in a hajib.
make that homecoming queen.
Recently muslims rioted over a beauty pagent. I think it was Malaisia. They were, of course, offended by it.
I thought it was about beauty, personality, stuff like that. I've never seen anything about western style. Hasn't there ever been homecoming queens that were not western?
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