Muslim student set to become first beauty contestant to wear hijab in Miss England final
A law student from Huddersfield is set to become the first Muslim contestant to compete in the Miss England final wearing a hijab.
Sara Iftekhar – who was recently crowned Miss Huddersfield 2018 and Miss Yorkshire Popularity 2018 – has been named one of 50 participants through to the last round.
Though she is not the first beauty queen to don a hijab through the elimination process, she will become the first finalist to walk the runway donning the traditional headpiece.
A post shared by Miss & Mr England Contest (@missenglandnews) on Jul 23, 2018 at 8:18am PDT
The 20-year-old took to Instagram to share the history-making news, as she wrote in a now-deleted post: “Wow, I can’t even comprehend how amazing it felt for my name to be announced as a finalist in the Miss England Finals 2018.”
“It was an incredible experience and something which I will never be able to forget. The opportunities which I have received with being a finalist in Miss England are opportunities which I would never have thought of, and will forever be grateful for.”
This year’s beauty pageant is raising funds for Beauty with a Purpose, a non-profit organisation which has helped thousands of disadvantaged children across the globe.
The charity – which was founded in 1972 – has also raised funds for global Cleft Palate teams, Operation Hunger and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Africa.
Iftekhar has created her own Go Fund Me page in order to raise money for the organisation through her newfound platform.
On the site, she wrote: “I participated in Miss 2018 in order to to show that beauty doesn’t have a definition, everyone is beautiful in their own ways, regardless of their weight, race, colour or shape.
If the student takes home the crown then she will go on to represent the country in the upcoming Miss World pageant which is set to take place in Sanya, China.
The winner of Miss England 2018 will be crowned on Tuesday 4 September.
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