Hammasa Kohistani

To be honest I had totally forgotten about Hammasa until she appeared in today’s Independent. Whether you consider beauty pageants to be eye candy or exploitation, she does remind us that stereotypes are there to be exploded. A beauty Queen may not have the kudos of an organisation like RAWA (these women are an inspiration in my view) but if she can make the “man on the street” realise that not all muslims are the same then it will be worthwhile.

Last year Hammasa Kohistani blended in with the throng of ethnically diverse students at her West London college. But her existence as an ordinary teenager ended last September when she became the first Muslim Miss England in the history of the contest.

Then aged 18, Ms Kohistani, the daughter of Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban, had no idea just how much the beauty crown would change her life, not least because it came just two months after the Tube bomb atrocities of 7 July. The timing meant her role was politicised from the start, and she found herself unwittingly placed in an ambassadorial role for modern Islam. That was never more evident than yesterday, when Ms Kohistani criticised Tony Blair for stereotyping the Islamic community in the wake of the London bombings. Her strong views and willingness to voice them have highlighted the tensions inherent in being both a Western beauty queen and a Muslim. While liberal Muslims from across the world hailed her as their mascot, her modelling career was met by frostiness in orthodox Islamic quarters.

Speaking yesterday as she resumed her studies at Uxbridge College, Ms Kohistani recalled: "The day after I won the pageant, I got a phonecall at about six in the morning. It was from an Afghan man living in Pakistan and he congratulated me and said my role would bring Afghan women a bit more respect. I received a card that some women in Afghanistan had made me which had a large pair of eyes and my image in the middle of the iris, saying I was 'the eyes of Afghan women' which I found so touching. But it can be difficult as well. In interviews, people always ask me questions about being a Muslim and about politics. At first it was quite rewarding and I enjoyed it. But after the first 200 interviews, I realised that it was all about me being Muslim. I won a beauty contest, not a politics degree." However, she conceded that being asked for her serious opinions has led her to reflect on what she believes, to the extent that she is considering a political career after university.

Reflecting on the past year, she feels the Tube attacks unified communities in one sense, as the people who were killed came from many different backgrounds and included Muslims. But she also believes that some "insensitive" comments by the Prime Minister have fuelled hostility towards Islam. "There's hostility on both sides, towards the Muslim community and from the Muslim community, who are trying not to have self-fulfilling prophecies that meet their stereotype, while the English community feel threatened by them."

After a year of travelling the world as Miss England, she has met world leaders including Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, and exchanged views with a diverse range of Muslim women. "Shaukat Aziz told me it was women like me that would make the world aware that there are so many more kinds of Muslim women out there than the stereotype that the Western media has of them in a burqa," she said. "Whenever we see images of Afghan women, they are in a burqa but there are so many women who don't look like this. "My own grandmother never wore a burqa. When people see me, they can't believe I'm from Afghanistan because I'm not covered up.

She has also used her increased profile to campaign for the most deprived women in Afghanistan. Together with her mother, she is creating a charity, Roshani, which translates as Light in Farsi, to raise funds for educating women and children. "It will be used to provide educational facilities for the most under-privileged but also for mental health. So many women in Afghanistan are illiterate, I felt I needed to do something."


Hammasa
Kohistani
England
Afghanistan