The Western Beauty Myth

In December 2002, London hosted the 52nd annual Miss World
Beauty Contest. Originally scheduled to be held in Nigeria, it had
to be moved following the response of the Muslims of Nigeria,
who took to the streets to demonstrate against such a show that allows
a group of loosely clad women to reveal their bodies in public. Ironically,
this year’s contest was won by the only Muslim contestant in the
competition, Miss Turkey. After winning the contest, Azra Akin, or ‘Miss
Turkey’ made the following statement; “I hope I will represent the
women of the world in a good way. I am very honoured to be Miss
World, I think it is good for a woman to have this position, and I hope
I can make a difference.”
Despite Azra’s view upon the subject, many women throughout the
world, both Muslim and non-Muslim, do not regard such beauty contests
as bringing honour to the woman. Instead it degrades her status and
reduces her to being an object of man’s desire. However, if we examine
the concept of the perfect image that a woman should aspire to attain and
the description of ‘What constitutes beauty’, held by Azra and the other
contestants, sadly, they would be shared globally by many women, non-
Muslim and Muslim alike.
In today’s reality, the dominant international view that is propagated of
what constitutes ‘The Beautiful Woman’ is that which was initially defined
by the Western Capitalist nations. A woman that is tall, slim, and fair. In
addition to this, the prevalent global view of the perfect image that a
woman should aspire to attain is mirrored upon the appearance and dress
of the Western woman.
It is important to understand that the image that a woman aspires to
attain represents much more than how she wishes to present herself to
the world physically. It represents the identity of how she views life and

of how she wishes to live her life. Naomi Wolf in her book, ‘The Beauty
Myth’, writes, “The qualities that a given period calls beautiful in women
are merely symbols of the female behaviour that that period considers
desirable: The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behaviour and
not appearance”.
So what is the identity that the image of the Western secular woman is
based upon? It is built upon the idea that the woman should be free to
define for herself all aspects of her life from her own mind and her own
desires, from her appearance, her dress code, her relationships with men,
to the roles that she should adopt in marriage and society. It is ultimately
based upon the view that no one should decide for her the image or
lifestyle that she should adopt in life or place any restrictions upon her,
not even God, the One who created her.
This is the identity that the Western secular nations present to the
world when they propagate the image of the Western woman globally.
This is the identity that they want the women throughout the globe,
including the Muslim World, to embrace when they adopt the image of
the Western woman. The Western media has a great part to play in
achieving this goal, from the music and film industries imported into the
Muslim lands that glamorise the image of the Western woman, to the
fashion, cosmetic, and beauty adverts in magazines and billboards on
the streets of Turkey, the Arab world and the Subcontinent. The
international televising of the Miss World Beauty Contest is simply
another style to achieve the same objective. In December 2002, over two
billion people globally tuned in to watch the show.
Any image that a woman may adopt based upon an alternative identity,
such as that of Islam and the Muslim woman, where the woman defines
her appearance and lifestyle completely upon the command of her
Creator rather than her own mind, is viewed as ugly, backward, and
oppressive. This is best illustrated in the following expressions from
some Western personalities. In 2001, Cherie Blair commented openly in
a press conference on the Islamic dress code of the Muslim woman,
saying, “Nothing more I think symbolizes the oppression of the woman
than the burka”. The French politician Jean-Marie Le-Pen said about the
hijaab that, “It keeps us away from ugly looking women”.Western women have become pre-occupied with the concepts of
beauty, image and appearance. They mistakenly associate beauty with
success, confidence and being valued and respected in the society.
With these above points in mind, we should examine whether the image
and identity of the Western woman is really what the woman, Muslim or
non-Muslim, should aspire towards. We should understand whether she
is really free to look and dress how she chooses or whether she needs to
conform to certain societal expectations. Has the quest for beauty instilled
within her confidence and led to her being valued and respected in the
society? Is it a myth or not?

The Quest for Beauty; a Matter of
Choice or Compulsion?

The Western woman prides herself on the belief that the quest
for beauty is a matter of choice; that she is free to define for
herself the image and appearance that she wishes to adopt in
life. However, the reality is far removed from this naive view.
THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
The Western capitalist society in which she lives has set the standard of
what constitutes ‘The beautiful woman’ as being tall, slim, fair, blonde and
voluptuous. It is the image that confronts the woman every day of her
life. This is the view of beauty that is glamorised in the thousands of
beauty, fashion and lifestyle magazines sold daily on the streets of
London, Paris, Rome, New York and Los Angeles such as Vogue,
Cosmopolitan and Marie Clare. It is the look encouraged by the
multibillion dollar beauty and cosmetic industry. This is the expectation
of beauty that is presented to society by the various models used in the
advertising industry and the personalities that are glamorised in the
entertainment industry. The perfect figure and look bombards the homes
of millions daily in the form of models such as Claudia Schiffer, Cindy
Crawford, Naomi Campbell or personalities such as Britney Spears,
Jennifer Aniston, Holly Valance or Victoria Beckham. They have become
the standards for women to aspire towards. The exposure to this
particular image of beauty begins at a young age from the ‘Teen’
magazines such as ‘Just 17’, ‘Cosmo Girl’ or ‘Sugar’ which discuss
everything from beauty tips, to the lifestyles of the ‘rich and famous’.
Everyone from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ to ‘Miss Dynamite’ are pushed
as role models.
With such a dominant view of beauty dominating the society, women
living in the West feel a constant pressure to measure up to such
expectations, if not for herself then to ensure that she will appearattractive to the men in the society who are also not isolated from such
images. They too have been affected by the imposed view of what
constitutes beauty.
This is clearly evident in the fact that the Western woman has become
increasingly consumed, obsessed and preoccupied with the way that she
looks, often above other issues in life. The U K beauty industry secures
revenues to the tune of £8.9 billion every year. The US cosmetic industry
grows by 10% each year. An article in Time magazine in 1988 described
how diets feed a $74 billion a year industry in the US, totalling one-third
of the nation’s annual food bill. In the US it is said that urban professional
women devote up to a third of their income to ‘beauty maintenance’,
and consider it a necessary investment. In a study performed by the
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 33,000 American women
told researchers that they would rather lose 10 to 15 pounds than achieve
any other goal. In 1998, a campaign called ‘The Bread for Life’ surveyed
over 900 young women between the ages of 18 and 24 living in the West
and published a report called ‘Pressure to be Perfect Report’. When
respondents were asked what the most attractive aspect of a woman was,
55% of the women rated looks, whilst only 1% attached importance to
intelligence.
This pressure to measure up to certain expectations has produced a
consistent mentality of insecurity and paranoia in the Western woman
with regards to her appearance. Is she too fat, too thin, too tall, too short,
too fair, too dark or too old? A report of a study quoted in the New
York Times in 1985 said, “Physically handicapped people generally
express an overall satisfaction about their bodies - while able-bodied
women, we saw, do not.” There is a prevailing fear of being fat, gaining
weight, and the aging process such that they have almost come to be
viewed as diseases. Dr Arthur K Balin, who was president of the
American Aging Association in 1988, said to The New York Times that,
“it would benefit physicians to look upon ugliness not as a cosmetic issue
but a disease.” The Bread for Life Campaign study mentioned above also
found that only 25% of the women surveyed were happy with their
weight and 22% of the women stayed at home because they did not feel
good about their appearance.
The wide reaching nature of this issue in its affect on women has ledscientists and doctors to define a term for it - Body Dysmorphic
Disorder. This is described as an abnormal preoccupation with a
perceived defect in one’s appearance. In this quest for beauty, rather than
building confidence, the woman has become crippled by a lack of
confidence and oppression of the mind. Even the women who
supposedly represent the ultimate view of beauty - the models on the
catwalk - do not feel secure with their image. The Independent
Newspaper recently reported the suffering of various well known super
models such as Karen Mulder who suffered from anorexia and
depression. She eventually took an overdose of sleeping tablets which
resulted in her lapsing into a coma. Clearly the notion that beauty brings
happiness is also a myth. This whole reality may be summed up in the
words of the Western writer, Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote in her
book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, “Taught from infancy that
beauty is a woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body and
roaming round in its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”
THE CONCEPT OF FASHION
If we examine the notion that the Western woman decides for herself
her dress code in life, defining for herself what is attractive and what is
not, we can see that the reality is otherwise. The global fashion industry
is worth $1.5 thousand billion (greater than the global weapons industry)
and sets the standard of what is the acceptable attire for the woman to
wear and what is not. Expectations are set of what look is attractive and
which are outdated and ugly that the woman ultimately feels pressurised
to live up to in order to be accepted and not ridiculed by friends,
colleagues and society. Furthermore, we should examine who sets such
standards of how a woman should present herself to society. The
majority of the top fashion designers in the world, both past and present
are men, who in their designs propagate their view of beauty and how the
woman should dress - Gionni Versace, Alexander McQueen who designs
for Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano who designs for Christian
Dior, and Karl Lagerfeld who is linked with Chanel. Such men, who also
carry the concept of freedom that emanates from the secular belief, feel
that they are free to view a woman in any manner that they wish and
have therefore defined beautiful clothing as that which reveals the shape
and body of the woman. The more revealing, the more beautiful. So it is
clear to see that even with regards to her dress, there are certainexpectations that the Western woman has to conform to in society, and
moreover such expectations have been mainly established by men who
have decided that it is their right to see the women of society exposing
their body and their beauty to them.
The quest for body-beauty is therefore not a choice for the Western
woman and the concept that she is free to choose her own image is a
myth. It has not built confidence and self-esteem in the woman but rather
produced a mentality of insecurity and obsession with her appearance.


Unrealistic Expectations

It is clear to see that there are certain expectations of the Western
woman with regards to beauty and appearance that have been set
by the society and the human being. However, as with any situation
where the human being decides for himself/herself how to live their life
from their own mind and desires, there will be flaws and problems. The
flaws and problems linked to the human being deciding how a woman
should present herself to the world is that unrealistic targets and
objectives will be defined. How can you expect all the women of the
world, or even in a society, or community to measure up to a certain
height, a certain weight, a certain shade of skin and hair colour, a certain
look and a certain age. Such a concept is irrational.
For example, the average model is less than 23% of the weight of the
average American woman. Are all women then expected to achieve this
weight? The result of such expectations is that many women feel that they
should. A survey performed by the University of Cincinnati College of
medicine in 1984 on 33,000 women found that 75% of those aged 18 to
35 believed that they were fat while only 25% were medically overweight;
45% of the underweight women thought that they were too fat.
The fact that this thinking does not fit the reality of life is also reflected
in the fact that the advertising industry often has to take certain artificial
measures to present the model or personality with the look which sells the
magazines and the cosmetic, beauty, or fashion product. Bob Ciano, once
art director of Life magazine, said, “no picture of a woman goes
unretouched...even a well-known (older) woman who does not want to be
retouched...we still persist in trying to make her look like she’s in her
fifties”. Dalma Heyn, who was editor of two women’s magazines, stated
that airbrushing from women’s faces is routine, and said that women’s
magazines “ignore older women or pretend that they don’t exist;
magazines try to avoid photographs of older women, and when they feature celebrities who are over sixty, ‘retouching artists’ conspire to ‘help’
beautiful women look more beautiful, ie less than their age.” She goes on
to say, “By now readers have no idea what a real woman’s 60 year old face
looks like in print because it’s made to look 45.Worse, 60 year old readers
look in the mirror and think they are too old, because they’re comparing
themselves to some retouched face smiling back at them from a
magazine.” Computer imaging that is used to change photographic reality
is often used in women’s beauty magazines upon the models to enhance
their appearance and features.
Even those women who are often cited as the pinnacles of beauty
have lost serious weight or have admitted to having had cosmetic surgery
in order to fit a certain image and have the perfect face; Britney Spears,
Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda. Cher, the singer, and queen of cosmetic
surgery, once said, “I don’t know how many more times I can beat this
face into submission”. Such are the unrealistic expectations set by the
beauty and entertainment industry that the average woman in the West is
following suit to strive for the perfect body, willing to undergo dangerous
operations or procedures to achieve this goal. In the US in 2001, there
were 8.5 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures performed
with women comprising 88% of the total. From 1997 to 2001 there was
a 304% increase in the number of cosmetic procedures in the US. The
top five operations were; lipoplasty, eyelid surgery, breast augmentation,
nose reshaping, and face lifts (statistics from the American Society for
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery). In one study, it found that 1 in 40 women in
the US have had breast augmentation. The new fad is “Botox” injections,
used to remove wrinkles and involves freezing the facial muscles with
injections of Botulin toxin. It does not take an expert to predict the
possible consequences of such a procedure.
These actions are all performed in the name of attaining a certain
image or appearance that in reality does not exist or can only be achieved
by one or two women within the whole population. In addition, because
such false expectations are set by the human being, the concept of what
constitutes the perfect body and face will always be changing with time.
Are these really the goals (based upon a myth) that an intelligent woman
looks up to, then struggles with her time, money and effort to achieve in
her life?


The Dangers of the Beauty Myth
Such a concept that all the women within a society should measure
up to a certain look is not just irrational but dangerous, and
therefore irresponsible for it can cause individuals to take extreme
measures in order to shape up to the expectation of what is described as
a “beautiful woman” causing a number of problems and disorders.
For example, the extreme desire to achieve a particular body weight or
to reduce body fat to a certain level has produced a whole host of health
and eating disorders. It is said that models and actresses had body fat
levels as low as 10% of body weight, while the average required for a
healthy woman should be between 22-26%. This obsession with body
shape and weight can very often give rise to the eating disorder Anorexia
Nervosa - a very serious illness causing symptoms such as hypothermia,
low blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms, and infertility and can be
fatal. It is described as “an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat,
even though underweight” and involves individuals performing excessive
exercise, taking laxatives to prevent absorption of food and simply not
eating. The National Institute of Mental Health in the US claimed that
every day in the US, Americans spend on average $109 million on diet or
diet related products; 1 in 20 women in the US have anorexia, bulimia, or
binge eating disorder; 1 in 3 of all dieters develop compulsive dieting
attitudes and behaviour, and of these 1 in 4 develop partial or full eating
disorders. In the US, 1,000 women die every year from anorexia
(American Anorexia/Bulimia Association).
In the year 2000, the British Medical Association published a report
discussing the reasons for the increasing levels of anorexia in the UK and
elsewhere. They wrote, “The media’s obsession with painfully thin fashion
models has contributed to the growth in eating disorders among young
girls...The degree of thinness exhibited by models chosen to promote
products is both unachievable and biologically inappropriate.” It is therefore not surprising the US, whose models and actresses are
often the role models that many women around the world look to imitate
with respect to image, also lays claim to the highest levels of anorexia in
the world.
The dangers of this beauty myth cannot be overstated because such
images of women portrayed by the media and advertising industry are
increasingly ensnaring the younger generations and moulding the
mentality of children as to how a successful woman should look. A
survey performed in 1997 by the British Schools’ Health Education Unit
found that 1 in 5 schoolgirls aged between 14 and 15 had nothing for
breakfast, 1 in 7 did not eat lunch, and 6 out of 10 felt that they needed
to lose weight. In the Anne Collins Diet web site, she states that various
surveys found that 80% of 10 year olds were worried in case they became
fat; 70% of 6th grade girls said they were concerned about weight, shape
and started to diet when they were 9-11 years; 50% of children aged 8-
10 years were unhappy with their size. Such attitudes can so easily
transform into eating disorders. 1 in 100 women in the US aged 12 to 18
have Anorexia Nervosa (American Anorexia/Bullimia Association). Dr.
Dee Dawson from Rhodes Farm Clinic that treats sufferers of eating
disorders stated that children as young as 6 or 7 were seen in the clinic
who were worried about being fat.
Naomi Wolf, in her book The Beauty Myth gives an analogy that is
appropriate to describe the reality of the beauty myth. It is like the
original Iron Maiden that was a medieval German instrument of torture.
It was a body shaped casket painted with the limbs and features of a
beautiful smiling young woman. The victim who was tortured was slowly
enclosed inside her, and then the lid was shut to immobilize the victim
who either died from starvation or from some metal spikes embedded in
her interior.
Such has become the obsession with weight and body fat that certain
web sites have arisen that encourage women to lose as much body fat as
possible, even if this requires purging. One web site entitled ‘Rexia World’
has as the title on one of its pages, ‘Thinner, Bonier and Closer to
Perfection’. It states the following, “Thin Commandments - If u aren’t
thin u aren’t attractive. Being thin is more important than being healthy.
U must buy clothes, cut ur hair, take laxatives, starve yourself...anything to make yourself look thinner. Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty.
Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterwards.
Thou shall count calories/restrict intake accordingly. What the scale says
is the most important thing. Losing weight is good/gaining weight is
bad. You can never be too thin. Being thin/not eating r signs of true
will power & success.”
Does this not speak for itself with respect to the dangers of making the
image of the Western woman the ideal of womanhood?

Has the Quest for Beauty Elevated
the Way that the Woman in the
West is Valued in Society?

The understanding that is often held by women living outside
the West who aspire for the image embodied by the Western
woman, is that the Western woman is valued and respected in
the society in which she lives. Such an image is obviously created by the
Western media and entertainment industry imported into foreign lands.
Those who actually live in the West, under the secular capitalist system,
understand that this notion is fantasy rather than reality.
If we first examine what effect the emphasis on beauty and image has
had on the manner that the Western woman values herself, we can see
that although many would like to judge themselves upon their intelligence
and skills, in truth, many feel a failure if they do not measure up to the
prevalent view of beauty. Germaine Greer, the Western feminist and
writer, says in her book, The Whole Woman, “Every woman knows that,
regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not
beautiful.” As previously mentioned, in a study performed by the
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 33,000 American women
told researchers that they would rather lose 10 to 15 pounds than achieve
any other goal. ‘The Bread for Life Campaign’ found that of the 900
women they surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24, 55% of the women
rated looks as the most attractive thing in a woman and only 1% said
intelligence. It is clear therefore that many of the women who have
adopted the Western identity value their appearance over their thinking,
intelligence, skills, and even personality, even though they may try and
hide this fact from themselves.
So how does the Western society value and judge a woman? The
Western writer, Camille Paglia wrote in a college text, entitled, ‘Sexual
Harassment - Confrontations and Decisions’, “Western culture has a
roving eye. Male sex is hunting and scanning: boys hang yelping from honking cars, acting like jerks over strolling girls; men lunching on girders
go through the primitive book of wolf whistles and animal clucks.
Everywhere, the beautiful woman is scrutinized and harassed. She is the
ultimate symbol of human desire.”
It is clear to all who look beyond the superficialities of the society that
the woman in the West is judged according to the level of her beauty
rather than her intelligence. This is at all levels. The majority of men
who also carry the Western secular mentality and have been affected by
the beauty myth, seek looks over intelligence in a relationship. They look
for the fair, tall, slim, ‘trophy’ to accompany them as they walk down the
street - to show off their ‘catch’ or ‘prize’ to their friends and family. It
is no surprise therefore that the woman in the West feels insecure with
regards to her appearance, feeling that it is her key to getting married or
preventing her husband or partner from running away with the next girl
who is prettier, slimmer, taller or fairer.
The reason to explain this reality is simple. The same concept of
freedom held by the woman who embraces the Western secular identity
who feels that she has the right to dress how she likes and adopt any
image that fits her desires, is also held in the minds of the men who
adopt the Western secular identity. The view is that they are free to view
and treat a woman in any way that they wish, for their mind and desires
are the standards by which they live their life. Indeed, this is the essence
of the concept of freedom and the basis of the Western identity.
When it comes to the question of hiring women for employment or
promoting them at work, it can be seen that image and beauty is
becoming increasingly important in all fields, not simply the usual
advertising, beauty, and entertainment industry. The citing of a few cases
in the West should provide sufficient proof for this reality that is a
dominant mentality in both male and female employers in every sector
from business to politics, the medical profession to law. In the US in
1975, Catherine McDermott sued the Xerox Corporation because they
withdrew a job offer on the grounds of her weight. In the same decade,
National Airlines fired stewardess Ingrid Fee because she was ‘too fat’ -
four pounds over the line. In 1983, in the US, TV anchor woman
Christine Craft sued her ex-employers Metromedia Inc. on the charge
that she had been dismissed by them on the grounds that, as she quotes her employer, she was “too old, too unattractive, and not deferential to
men.” The judge ruling over the case favoured on the side of the
company. One journalist said with regards to the case, “There are
thousands of Christine Crafts...We keep silent. Who can survive a
blacklist?” Dan Air was challenged in 1987 for hiring only pretty young
women as air crews. They defended their action on the basis of customer
preference for pretty young women. A 54 year old American woman
quoted in The Sexuality of Organization, said her boss replaced her one
day without warning. “He had told her that he ‘wanted to look at a
younger woman’ so his ‘spirits could be lifted’”.
The manner in which the Western society values the various qualities
of a woman can also be seen when we understand that the only
professions that a woman consistently gets paid more than a man are
modelling and prostitution. A super model can sometimes make £10,000
in one day - the same amount earned by a junior doctor or teacher in 6
months of work.
Those women who do manage to secure a job or gain a promotion, are
often faced with a barrage of sexual harassment where the man does
not respect her on the basis that she can perform her job well but still
views her as an object simply to play to his desires. A study in 1993 by the
Industrial Society found that 54% of women in the UK had been sexually
harassed at work. The Claremont College Working Papers (2001) found
in one survey that 70% of women who were in active duty in the British
army reported some type of sexual harassment in the past 12 months
prior to the study. Respondents to queries of sexual harassment by the
Equal Opportunities Commission illustrate that such a mentality is not
simply present in one sector of the workforce but in every part of the
society - managers, the police force, the medical and law professions,
and the political arena to quote a few examples. In a study reported by the
American Association of University Women in 1993, it stated that 85%
of schoolgirls had been sexually harassed; 25% of them by school
employees.
It is clear to see that the woman in the West is valued in the majority of
cases and on most levels on the basis of her appearance rather than her
intelligence. She is viewed by many of the men within the society simply
as a commodity to fulfil their desires rather than a valuable contributor to the society. The ultimate proof for this is surely the epidemic of rape
that plagues the Western nations. 1 in 20 women in England and Wales
have been raped. 167 women in England and Wales are raped every day
(figures from the British Home Office). A woman is raped more than
once every minute in the US. In one survey of 114 undergraduates in the
US, commissioned by Ms Magazine in 1988, 83.5% of the men gave the
reply yes to the statement that “Some women look like they’re just asking
to be raped”. This dangerous mentality held by the men in the society
based upon the concept of freedom - that they are free to view a woman
in any manner that they wish, is also being bred in the minds of the
youngsters. In a UCLA study of 14 to 18 year olds, more than 50% of the
boys thought that it was ‘OK’ for a man to rape a woman if he was
sexually aroused by her. In a Ms Magazine survey of undergraduates in
the US in 1988, 1 in 12 of the respondents had raped or tried to rape a
woman since age 14. In the UK, boys as young as 13, have been placed
on the Sex Offenders Register after performing indecent sexual acts
against girls. The expectations for the future of the society can only be
described as dire.
The reality is clear, beauty does not earn respect for the woman within
the Western societies nor elevate her standing and bring value to her life.
It is a myth. The Western woman has become an object judged simply on
superficialities rather than her thinking and intelligence. Allah  perfectly
describes this whole reality in an ayah;
“But the Unbelievers - their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts which the
man parched with thirst mistakes for water, until when he comes up to it, he finds it
to be nothing.” [TMQ Al-Nur: 39]

What Drives the Beauty Myth?
The facts are clear with regards to the woman who adopts the
Western identity. She is not really free to define for herself her
own image but is pressurised to live up to certain expectations;
these expectations are themselves a fantasy; the quest for beauty has not
brought her respect in the society or made her valued.
If all these points are true then we should ask ourselves certain
questions. Why is it that this beauty myth continues to be propagated to
women near and far? Why do more women not realise that they are being
deceived daily? Why is the image of the Western woman based upon the
Western identity and secular view of life then presented as the role model
for women globally to imitate?
The answer, as with every issue that is defined by the capitalist manmade
way of life, is money and profit. The beauty, cosmetic, fashion,
and plastic surgery industries are driven by multibillion dollar
corporations, as are the magazines that advertise them and encourage
the images that they represent.
The quest for beauty therefore needs to be maintained in order for
the profit-margins of these companies to be protected. The unrealistic
images and targets for women to aspire to have to continue in order that
their revenue continues to grow as women persistently struggle in order
to spend their money to measure up to the constantly changing goals.
Naomi Wolf quotes in her book, The Beauty Myth, “An economy that
depends on slavery needs to promote images of slaves that ‘justify’ the
institution of slavery”. Such a beauty myth needs to be hidden as far as
possible from the public eye in order to keep the dollars and pounds
rolling in. Hence, the image of the woman of the West continues to be
the role model for women worldwide to feed the appetite of a few greedy
company directors and corporation owners. An economist John Kenneth Galbraith commented on this quest for beauty, saying that it “has been
forced on us by popular sociology, by magazines, and by fiction to
disguise the fact that woman in her role of consumer has been essential
to the development of our industrial society...Behaviour that is essential
for economic reasons is transformed into a social virtue.”
As mentioned previously, the beauty industry in the UK secures
revenue of £8.9 billion every year. The fashion industry has global
revenue totalling $1.5 thousand billion every year, whilst diet items are a
$74 billion a year industry in the US (Time Magazine 1988). A cosmetic
surgeon in the US can very easily earn $1 million a year. In fact, when
India won the Miss World Beauty for two years, a number of womens’
groups in India commented that it was less to do with the outstanding
beauty of Miss India and more to do with international cosmetic
companies wanting to penetrate the Indian market.
In addition to this, the medium of TV and magazines receive millions
in advertising from these industries in order to present the images of
“Beautiful women” who supposedly use or wear their products. The
cosmetic and toiletries industries spend proportionately more on
advertising than any other industry. At one time, a single issue of the
beauty magazine Harper’s and Queen carried £100,000 worth of ads
from cosmetic companies. As a result, it is not surprising to read the
words of one writer for ‘Cover-up’ magazine, who said, “Beauty editors
are rarely able to write freely about cosmetics” because advertisers require
an editorial promotion as a condition for placing the ad.
Having understood this, should the intelligent woman really be taken
in by these lies and deception that surrounds the image of the Western
woman or should she think carefully about the correct identity and image
to adopt for life?

The Affect of the Beauty Myth
upon the Muslim Woman

Unfortunately the Beauty myth has affected a number of Muslim
women both in the West and the Muslim world. For those
living in the West, it is easy to understand why, for they are
exposed to the same images of women and expectations as the non-
Muslim women in the society. However, in the Muslim world it is no less
surprising, for the same Western culture is imported into our lands via the
media, the entertainment industry and the advertising industry. The
Western lifestyle magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Marie
Clare line the shelves of the newsagents and shops of Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Turkey, the Arab world and Southeast Asia. Beauty parlours
that propagate the image of the Western woman increase daily on the
streets of Karachi, Lahore, Dhaka, Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur etc. In
October 2002, the BBC reported on a story about Afghanistan called
‘Afghan Lipstick Liberation’. It discussed a current project underway,
funded by US money to provide the women of Afghanistan with a
Western form of a Beauty School to be built in Kabul inside the
compound of the Afghanistan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and to be
completed by January 2003. Its objective is to train some of the women
of Afghanistan in cutting hair and the ‘beauty business’ with make-up
donated for it from top cosmetic companies such as Revlon and MAC.
It is clear that the aim is to instil within the minds of the women the
desire to imitate the appearance of the women in the West.
Unfortunately, the result of this reality is that a number of Muslim
women have adopted or aspire to adopt the image of the Western woman
that is based upon the Western identity and view of life of keeping God
away from life. The Western concept of what constitutes beauty has
become the criterion to judge their own appearance; tall, slim, fair and
young. When seeking for marriage, the boy or his parents may look for
a girl that fits such a description over the strength of her deen. The
unfortunate view that many Muslim girls recognise exists within the community or society is “the fairer the more beautiful the woman”. Such
has become the desire to fit such an image that many girls use various
measures to lighten their skin, even bleaching, regardless of the possible
consequences. One type of bleaching product called Jolen has been
associated with causing cancer. In addition, cosmetic surgery and anorexia
have become increasingly more frequent both amongst Muslim women
living in the West and those in the Muslim world. Issues that at one time
were alien to the Muslim Ummah and the Muslim woman.
Even the Bollywood culture which has been recently popularized in
the West and that many may associate with having its own distinct look
for the woman and definition of fashion has in reality been moulded
upon the same concepts that the Western identity embodies. The beauty
and lifestyle magazines produced by the Asian market such as Asian
Bride, Asian Woman and Libas discuss the same concept of the woman
being free to decide her own appearance and behaviour and contain the
same idea that there is a particular look that constitutes the beautiful
woman. Such expectations are increasingly being mirrored on exactly the
same look as the Western woman. The Indian actress Ashwariya Rai who
is particularly popular in Bollywood at the moment, is often admired by
many young Asian girls for her fair skin and blue eyes. Indeed, many
well known Indian actresses are increasingly undergoing cosmetic surgery
to measure up to expectations such as Karishma and Rekha. So in the
Bollywood culture, the woman still decides according to the idea of
freedom. Her mind and desires as in the Western identity are the standard
by which she decides her image, the clothes that she will wear in society,
and the relationships that she will have. For those who pride themselves
on the fact that the image of the woman in Bollywood is much more
“modest” than in Hollywood, should perhaps examine the fact that the
short blouses, the body hugging shalwar kameez, and the body exposing
sarees worn by the Indian actresses would not look out of place in the
fashion section of most Western fashion magazines.
Even recently on a BBC documentary, entitled “Faith in Fashion”, it
discussed specifically the concept of how a woman can be Muslim but
still be part of the fashion circle defined by the Western society and
aspire to adopt an ‘Islamicised’ version of Western dress - whatever that
may be! However, what needs to be examined is the underlying objective of
the West in aiming for the Muslim woman living in the West to adopt its
concept of beauty and the objective in importing the same images of
beauty into the Muslim world. For the Muslim living in the West, the
aim is to integrate her into the society such that she loses her Islamic
identity and forgets her responsibilities and obligations as a Muslim
woman. For the Muslim world, the aim is also to erode the Islamic
thinking and behaviour of the Muslim woman and for her to adopt the
Western identity. However, it is but one style of many of cultural
colonialism. One clear example of this is the example discussed above of
the Beauty school being built in Kabul. Of all the problems that women
in Afghanistan are facing at the moment such as famine, lack of access
to clean water and medicines, the West decides that the priority for her
is to know how to beautify herself! Such an objective by the Western
powers has as its basis the prevention of the return of Islam as a way of
life to the Muslim world and for the Western secular way of life with its
culture and system to continue to prevail over the globe, to protect their
material interests and maintain their hegemony.
This is in essence the consequence of the Muslim woman aspiring for
the images of beauty defined by the West and embracing the Western
identity. This agenda of the West is unknowingly aided.

Islam and the Concept of Beauty

In contrast to the Western identity that has made the mind and
desires of the human being the standard to decide how to live life,
the Islamic identity is based upon the belief that the Creator of
the human being and the universe has sovereignty and sole right to decide
how an individual should live their life. After all, it is He  alone who
created the human being with every instinct and need that he has and
knows how best to regulate them.
The Western secular way of life carries the concept of personal
freedom that has ordained that the man and woman should be free to
define for themselves how they should dress, their image, how they
should view the opposite sex and what kind of relationships they should “It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by
Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision. If anyone disobeys
Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path.” [TMQ Al-Ahzab:
36]
Islam does not have a fixed concept of what constitutes ‘The Beautiful
Woman’ and has not defined a specific image of a woman that represents
beauty. Therefore there are no unrealistic expectations that the woman
needs to strive towards nor that the man expects. Islam does however
discuss the concept of the image that a Muslim woman should adopt in
various circumstances and to whom she can reveal her complete beauty.
In the presence of all non-mahrem men (those to whom she can marry),
the image that has been prescribed for the woman is that all parts of her
body should be covered except her face and hands and that the clothes
should not be thin such that her skin can be seen nor tight such that the
shape of her body can be seen. Therefore, the whole of the body of the
woman, including her neck, feet and hair (even one hair) except her face
and hands are awrah (that which is haram to reveal to any non-mahrem
man). Whatever is an exception to this, has to be defined by evidence
from the Qur’an and Sunnah and not the mind.
In one hadith reported by ‘A’isha , she said that Asma bint Abu Bakr
entered the quarters of the Messenger of Allah  wearing thin clothes.
The Messenger  turned his face away and said,
“Oh Asmaa, if the woman reaches puberty, it is not allowed to be
seen from her except this and this”, and he pointed to his face and
hands. In Surah Al-Nur, Allah  says, “They should not show their charms (zeenah) in public beyond what may (decently)
be apparent thereof; hence let them draw their head-coverings (khumur) over their
necks and bosoms (juyub). And let them not display (more of) their charms to any but
their husbands, their fathers, their husbands fathers, their sons, their husbands sons,
their brothers, their brothers sons, their sisters sons, their womenfolk, their concubines,
such male attendants as are beyond all sexual desire, or children that are as yet
unaware of women’s nakedness; and let them not swing their legs (in walking) so as
to draw attention to their hidden charms.” [TMQ Al-Nur: 31]
Ibn ‘Abbas explained the words, “...beyond what may (decently) be apparent
thereof ” to be referring to the face and hands.
In addition, in the presence of non-mahrem men, she should not wear
any clothing, jewellery or make-up that would draw attention to her
beauty (tabarruj). As Allah  relates in Surah Al-Ahzab;
“...and do not keep exhibiting your beauty and decorations like what used to happen
in the Jahiliyyah period (before Islam).” [TMQ Al-Ahzab: 33]
In addition, when the woman leaves her home and enters the public
arena, the image or dress that she has been commanded to wear is the
khimar (a head cover that covers the entire head, neck, and the opening
of the garment on the chest) and the jilbab (a one piece dress that covers
her (home) clothes and drapes down to the floor). If she leaves the home
without these two pieces of clothing then she would be sinful for she has
neglected a command from her Creator . The evidence for this is clear.
have, what roles they should adopt in marriage and society and overall
how they should behave. In contrast, the Muslim, male and female, live
their life on the basis that they are accountable to the Creator for every
action that they perform in life. Therefore they understand that they
should refer every issue to the laws and regulations, and the criterion of
halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden) that has been prescribed by Him
alone. For the Muslim woman therefore, her mind and her desires are not
the arbiter in how she defines beauty, her image, or how she values herself
but rather the Qur’an and the Sunnah. For the Muslim man, his desires
should not be the standard used to decide how to view or treat the
woman but rather the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Allah  says in Surah Al-
Ahzab, The verse above discusses the obligation of the khimar,
“Let them draw their head-coverings (khumur) over their necks and bosoms (juyub).”
[TMQ Al-Nur: 31]
A verse in Surah Al-Ahzab, discusses the obligation of the jilbab;
“Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers
to draw their cloaks (jalabeeb) all over their bodies.” [TMQ Al-Ahzab: 59]
In addition, in one hadith narrated by Umm Atiyya , she said,
“The Messenger of Allah  ordered us to bring out the young
women, the menstruating women and veiled women for the two
Eid festivals. The menstruating women were to keep away from
prayer, yet witnessing the goodness and the da’wah (address) to the
Muslims. I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what about the one who
does not have a jilbab?’ He  said;
‘Let her use the jilbab of her sister.’”
Beauty for the Muslim woman is to follow to the letter these ahkham
(rules) and ugliness is to leave them aside and follow our own desires. She
does not have to measure up to the shallow standards set by any human
being. To adopt such an image and behaviour is clearly within the
capability of any woman and undoubtedly does not give rise to the host
of problems such as eating disorders that result from the unrealistic
expectations of appearance, body size and shape imposed upon the
woman by the Western identity.
Although Islam does not have a fixed concept of what constitutes ‘The beautiful face or figure’, the Muslim woman is encouraged to
perform certain actions that will make her appearance appealing to her
husband such as dressing up for her husband and presenting herself in
a clean and tidy manner. She knows that in doing so she secures the
pleasure of the Creator. However, she performs this action, knowing
that she is not trying to match up to the norms of society in the shape
of her figure or the fairness of her face but rather according the limits
that have been prescribed upon her by her Creator. Similarly, the Muslim
husband, when shaping his likes and dislikes would be careful to ensure
that they are not simply moulded by the unrealistic expectations of the
Western society.

How does the Muslim Woman
Value Herself

The Muslim woman does not value herself on something as
superficial as beauty. Nor does she make the shallow judgement
that she is a failure if she does not measure up to the societal
definition of what constitutes a ‘Beautiful Woman’. She understands
clearly that such images are a myth and are used as a distraction from
thinking about the important questions in life such as the true purpose
of life and how to organise the affairs of the human beings in the correct
manner.
The Muslim woman understands that the basis upon which she should
judge herself upon is not her face but her thinking and her behaviour. She
values herself on how obedient a slave she is to her Creator and the
quality and quantity of actions she performs in life, in accordance with
His  obligations and refraining from His  prohibitions, to earn His 
pleasure, knowing that this is the supreme success in this life and the
hereafter. For this is the key to eternal bliss in paradise. Allah  relates
in Surah Al-Ahzab,
“For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and
women, for truthful men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity,
for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men
and women who engage much in God’s praise, for them has God prepared forgiveness
and a great reward.” [TMQ Al-Ahzab: 35]
She therefore evaluates herself on the basis of her taqwa (obedience to
Allah ), for this is the standard by which her Creator evaluates the
human being and the basis upon which He  elevates one individual
over another. Allah  says in Surah Al-Hujurat,
“The most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has more Taqwa.”
[TMQ Al-Hujurat: 13]
The Prophet  also mentioned in his last sermon that no man is better
than another except on the basis of taqwa and good deeds.
Therefore the struggle that the Muslim woman should engage in her
life is not the quest for beauty or to try to imitate the shallow thinking of
the Western identity but to adopt the Islamic personality as a whole and
look to live by the laws of Islam as an individual, in her family life, and
within society. The Prophet  once said,
“The world and all things in the world are precious but the most
precious thing in the world is a virtuous woman.”

How Should the Muslim Man
Value the Muslim Woman?

As discussed above, the Muslim man is not free to view the
woman in any manner that he wishes but understanding that he
is accountable to the Creator; he restricts his view to that
defined by Islam alone.
So for example, when seeking a woman for marriage, the Prophet 
said in a very well known hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah ,
“A woman is married for four things; her wealth, lineage, beauty
and Islamic character . So gain success with the one who possesses
a good character.”
Therefore, the Muslim man who seeks to gain the most reward in the
hereafter will strive to find a wife whose understanding of the deen is
clear and sound above all other qualities she may have. He will not be
deceived by the beauty myth that propagates the view that for a woman
to be beautiful she should have a certain look - tall, slim, fair or be
seduced to the idea that appearance is the most important factor in a
relationship. He will therefore seek a wife who has a sound understanding
of the duties of a Muslim woman; who will devotedly perform the duties
of a wife defined by Islam; who will with care and attention nurture the
thinking of his children with a strong and powerful understanding of
Islam; and who will be a guard for him with respect to his deen as he will
be a guard for her. The Prophet  related in the following hadith, “The best property a man can have is a remembering tongue, a
grateful heart, and a believing wife who reminds him of the
hereafter (akhira).”
The reality in the Muslim world today is that unfortunately this correct
mentality of how a woman should be valued is not present within the
societies en mass but this is not surprising for there is no part of the
Muslim world today that has the honour of implementing Islam
comprehensively. In contrast, under the complete application of the
Shari’ah within the framework of the Islamic State or Khilafah, where the
true Islamic society would exist, such a mentality would naturally be
nurtured within the society as a whole as evident in Islamic history.
So for instance, within the area of employment, a Muslim male
employer within the Islamic society would understand his accountability
to the Creator when hiring an individual for a particular job. He would
understand that it is haram for him to appoint one person for the job
solely on the basis of race and sex or beauty when another is better
suited for it. In addition, he would not be able to use the woman for a role
that would reveal her ‘awrah for he would understand that as with the
other men in the society; he does not have the right to see the ‘awrah or
full beauty of any non-mahrem woman, including those with whom he
works. For example, the man even if he sees by accident other than the
face and hands of a non-mahrem woman, the obligation from Islam is to
lower his glance. In one hadith reported from Jarir ibn ‘Abdullah, he said,
“I asked the Messenger of Allah  about the look of surprise, so
he commanded me to look away.” In another hadith reported from Ali
, he said, “The Messenger of Allah  said to me,
‘Do not follow up the (first) glance with a second look. The first
is permitted for you but not the second.’”
The woman can also not engage in or be hired for any job that exploits
her femininity or where her beauty is the quality that is utilised in the
area of work such as modelling or advertising a product that draws attention to her beauty. Such pictures that incite the sexual instinct of
the man and reduce the woman to simply an object to be lusted over
would be prohibited within a true Islamic society. In fact, it is even
prohibited for a man to look more than once at the face of a woman who
incites his desire, as shown clearly in the following hadith. Abu Dawud
narrated that Al-Fadl ibn ‘Abbas at the time was the Prophet’s riding
partner when a woman from Banu Khatham came seeking a hukm. Al-
Fadl began to look at her and she at him so the Messenger of Allah 
made al-Fadl turn his face away from her. This story has been narrated
by ‘Ali bin Abu Talib  who added, “al-Abbas said to the Prophet , ‘O
Messenger of Allah, why did you turn your cousin’s neck?’ He replied,
“I saw a young man and a young woman in such a situation that
I feared what effect Shaytan might have upon them.”
Finally, the relationship between the non-mahrem man and woman at
work, in the home and in the society at large has to be purely confined
to the job at hand or the transaction being performed. It is haram for
any socialising to take place outside of what the Shari’ah permits. This
restriction, in addition to the fact that even within the workplace, men and
women will be segregated due to one of the requirements of the Islamic
social system, will ensure that the woman will be judged and promoted
on the quality of her work rather than her beauty or using her ‘feminine
charms’. She would also be able to perform her job efficiently as a doctor,
teacher, engineer, scientist or businesswoman without the fear of being
physically or sexually harassed by her male colleagues.
All of the above points and others illustrate that within Islam and the
Islamic society, a woman is judged according to her character, her
thinking, her intelligence, and her skills, making her a valuable contributor
to the society as a whole. She is not viewed as a commodity to be
exploited or objectified simply to fulfil the desires of the men of the
society but rather is protected and valued in the society.
Germaine Greer, the embodiment of Western feminism, writes in her
book The Whole Woman, “For years after The Female Eunuch was written
I travelled the earth to see if I could glimpse a surviving whole woman. She would be a woman who did not exist to embody male sexual fantasies
or rely upon a man to endow her with identity and social status, a woman
who did not have to be beautiful, who could be clever, who would grow
in authority as she aged.” Our advice to her would be to end her travels
and save her money by examining the true status of women within Islam
and the Khilafah system.


The Muslim Woman is the
Thinking Woman

The Muslim woman who understands with clarity that her true
purpose of life is to seek the Pleasure of her Creator and knows
with surety what faces her in the Hereafter; Jannah (paradise) or
Jahannum (hellfire) is a thinking woman. She is not one who is deceived
by the beauty myth and strives to adopt the shallow images propagated
by the Western capitalist nations. She does not become consumed with
the superficialities of in-depth discussions on the right look, the right
hair, the right fashion statement or waste her time and effort trying to
measure up to the unrealistic expectations of what the Western societies
have defined as ‘The beautiful woman’. Her main worry in life is how to
be the obedient servant to her Creator and accumulate the most rewards
for the Hereafter.
Her role models in life are not the superficial film stars, musicians, and
models in the West or east but rather the Sahabiyaat  and Muslim
women of the past who were devoted servants to Allah  fulfilling all of
their obligations to Him  with every effort that they could. Such Muslim
women were not identified and praised by the Prophet , the scholars
and Islamic history books of the past due to their beauty but rather their
elevated characters and qualities of intelligence, generosity, humility,
loyalty, courage, stamina, sacrifice and being devoted wives and loving
mothers. They are recognised in Islamic culture not due to their face but
due to being great thinkers, great scholars, great fighters, great poets and
great politicians and da’wah carriers.
Women like Khadijah  the first wife of the Prophet  who supported
her husband in the da’wah to establish the first Islamic State and endured
all the difficulties and hardships that faced her with courage and patience,
even witnessing the sufferings of her own children in the cause. The
Prophet  said of her, “I have not yet found a better wife than her. She had faith in me
when everyone, even members of my own family and tribe did not
believe me, and accepted that I was truly a Prophet and a
Messenger of Allah. She converted to Islam, spent all her wealth
and worldly goods to help me spread this faith, and this too at a
time when the entire world seemed to have turned against me and
persecuted me. And it is through her that Allah blessed me with
children.”
Such was her character that Allah  himself sent salam to her as related
in one hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, it was said that the Angel Jibra’il
came to the Prophet  and said,
“O Allah’s Messenger! This is Khadijah, coming to you with a
dish having meat soup. When she reaches you, greet her on behalf
of her Lord and on my behalf, and give her the glad tidings of
having a palace made of Qasab in Paradise, wherein there will be
neither any noise nor any toil.” [Narrated by Bukhari]
Women like Fatimah , the daughter of the Prophet  whose
generosity shone out like a beacon. For example, on one occasion, Salman
, one of the companions of the Prophet  tried to find food for a
Muslim who was hungry and had not eaten for some time. He led the
Muslim to several houses but none could feed him. Suddenly he came
across the house of Fatimah , knocked on the door and informed her of the purpose of the visit. With tears in her eyes, she told him that she
had had nothing to eat in her house for the last three days. Still, reluctant
to refuse a guest, she said, “I cannot send back a hungry guest without
satisfying his hunger”. She gave a sheet of cloth that she owned to
Salman , imploring him to take it to Shamoon, a Jew, and in its return
to bring some corn. The Jew, who was so impressed by the generosity of
the Prophet’s  daughter embraced Islam. When Salman  returned
the corn, Fatimah grinded it and baked loaves of bread.When Salman 
suggested that she should keep some of it for herself and family, she
replied that she had no right over it as she had given the cloth for the sake
of Allah .
Women like ‘A’isha , the wife of the Prophet  who had a brilliant
mind and a remarkable memory, reporting over 2,000 ahadith. She had a
deep understanding of tafseer, hadith, fiqh and Shari’ah. In one of the
dreams of the Prophet , Angel Jibra’il brought her picture wrapped in
the cover of green silk and said, “She is your wife in this world and the
hereafter.”
Women like Khansaa who was an excellent poet and used this skill to
motivate her son’s to fight the Jihad in order to raise the word of Allah
 the highest, saying to them, “You know the rewards Allah has
promised for those who fight the disbelievers in His path. You must
remember that the everlasting life of the Hereafter is far better than the
temporary life of this world. When you get up tomorrow morning be
prepared to contribute your best in the battle. Go ahead into the enemy
lines seeking help from Allah . When you see the flames of war rising
high, you get right in the centre and face the enemy chiefs. InshaAllah
you will get your abode in paradise with honour and success”. The next
day, all four of her sons advanced into the battle of Qadasiyyah, reciting
the words of their mother and fought until they were killed. When
Khansaa received the news of their death, she said, “Alhamdulillah. Glory
to Allah who has honoured me with their martyrdom. I hope that Allah
 will unite me with them under the shade of His Mercy”.
Women like Umm Amarah  who was a skilled fighter and fought in
many battles including the Battle of Uhud, Hunayn and Yamamah. Who
in the battle of Uhud protected the Prophet  with her own body,
receiving many injuries in the process. The Prophet  once related about the Battle of Uhud that wherever he turned, whether to the right or to
the left, he saw Umm Amarah fighting to defend him. He  prayed for
her and her family who fought with such courage and strength that day,
saying;
“O Allah! Make this family my friends in Paradise.”
Women like Umm Shareek who devotedly carried the da’wah to Islam
amongst the women of Quraysh to the level that she was expelled from
the society by the leaders of the Quraysh and women like Sumayyah 
who was the first martyr of Islam, who continued to call the people to the
worship of Allah  while being tortured to death by Abu Jahl.
The Muslim woman is a thinking individual who does not blindly
imitate and follow those around her, even if she goes against the norms
of society. She is not an individual that is handicapped with low selfesteem
linked to her image but rather she is full of confidence in the life
that she has chosen for herself for she has established the truth of Islam
through her own mind and conviction. Finally, she is not a woman who
is simply consumed with her own image, appearance or life but rather

Thats a long long copy/paste stuff (probably), I couldnt read it all, but I'll tell sth about the beauty contest mentioned at the top.
Azra Akın is not the first Turkish winner of the contest.
At 1930, Miss Turkey Keriman Halis become Miss world at Belgium. And thats an interesting story:

When the jury was about to start giving points, the person who is at the chief position went to the podium and told these:

""-Dear jury! Today ve celebrate the victory of the European Christiandom! Islam, which is dominant over world for 1400 years is finished now. Europe finished it. The represantative of the Muslim women, MissTurkey Keriman, is in front of us, wearing a bikini! We will choose this girl as a crown of our victory, we'll make her queen!
It's not important if there is a more beautiful girl or not.This yera we are not choosing queen of beauty, this year we celebrate the victory of beating Islam, victory of Europe! The granddaughter of Kanuni sultan Suleyman, who once interfered the dancing at France, is now in front of us with underwear!!!!! she seeks our liking. And we liked this girl who adapts us. We choose Miss Turkey as Miss World, wishing all Muslims be like her; but we celebrate the victory of Europe!!""

It's so embarrassing, not?