The Muslim Princess

I should have written this many days ago. Blame it on Lost. But here I am. And here she is:

I present to you Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010

Beautiful, beautiful and delightful 24 years old middle eastern princess. Rima Fakih was born in Lebanon, but moved to the United States when she was still a kid. Before coming to the US, Rima studied in a catholic school; however, she is a Muslim, but also celebrates Christian rites.

Yes, you read it well, a Muslim.



An incredibly hot Muslim. I think this might be why Muslim men might want their women to be all covered. The desert is already too hot.

But if you think that is her hottest picture, think again. Besides winning the Miss USA pageant, she also won a pole dancing contest. The proof is here:







But wait, she is no airhead. Rima Fakih graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with degrees in economics and business management, and plans to attend law school after her year-long reign. Truly amazing girl. Really, who needs 72 virgins? Whoever has love would already be in heaven.

But there is more. She also worries about others; she is an advocate for breast and ovarian cancer awareness. She also supports insurance paid birth control, an idea that many Christians reject. Which leads me to to most important of her characteristics,

Rima Fakih represents a liberal and successful Muslim, a woman who values education, who takes big decisions and who enjoys her sexuality. This is a double win, since, in on side, she sets an example for other Muslim women to break the chains that Muslim traditions have imposed on them; and, on the other hand, if that is not true, if there are many Muslim women just like her, then she makes an awesome job of putting them on the table and telling the world "Hey! We awesome Muslim girls do exist!"

Of course, not everyone likes her winning of the pageant. On one side we have the conservative muslims:

"To say that she is a Muslim is inaccurate. No Muslim woman can call herself a ... Muslim and be on stage with her bikini," Ghazal Omid, a Muslim scholar, posted on her Facebook page.

This is exactly the same attitude that some Christians use when saying that someone who doesn't comply with their points of view (even if they also believe in Christ) are not "Real Christians." According to Omid, Rima Fakih is not a "real Muslim" because of her enjoying of her sexuality, whether it is posing in a (wonderful) bikini or doing the pole dancing. My guess is that to be a "real Muslim" she has to use conservative clothes and do nothing that is related to sexuality. Pure bullshit.

On the other hand, we have the American conservatives, who I bet, see this as a threat to the establishment. So they are going to look for any reason to put the new queen down, even if it is a very stupid reason:

Debbie Schlussel claims (but presents no evidence) that "at least three of Fakih's relatives are currently top officials in Hezbollah and that at least eight Fakih family members were Hezbollah terrorists."

Sure, because fundamentalist terrorist would love to see a Muslim woman be presented in public wearing a bikini. Moreover, what do her relatives have to do with her? Furthermore, the accuser presents no evidence for this claim. Are these people for real?

Anyway, conservative stupidity/bigotry is no news. What is news here is that a young female Muslim might be a very important icon for the portrayal of Muslims in the media. Sayid Jarrah already did something. But now our icon is real. In a time in which Muslims freak out about cartoons and try to separate themselves from the rest of the world for not having the capacity to accept criticism, Rima Fakih shows that a set of beliefs and common sense can coexist in the same person.



A beautiful, beautiful person.