Hamdia Ahmed Is the First Miss Maine Pageant Contestant to Wear a Hijab

[Deeq A.]

Hamdia Ahmed took to Twitter to share history-making news. She’s the first Miss Maine contestant to wear a hijab and burkini during the pageant. According to her profile, Hamdia was “born in Somalia,” and “raised in a refugee camp in Kenya.” She took part in the pageant this December and wore exactly the looks that she wanted to. In one photo, she donned a gold long-sleeve gown with a light pink hijab, and in another, likely for the swimsuit portion, she wore a burkini. She tweeted: “I competed in Miss Maine as the first Muslim girl with a Hijab. I slayed my hijab.”

While this is a milestone achievement for the Miss Maine competition, this isn’t the only pageant where a woman embraced modest fashion, and made headlines. Last November, Halima Aden wore a hijab in the Miss Minnesota competition, and went onto become a celebrated high-fashion model. Later, Muna Jama made history by refusing to wear a bikini during the swimsuit portion of the Miss Universe competition, opting to don a kaftan instead. Though a few brands like Nike and American Eagle are now including hijabs in their repertoire, and incredible young women like Hamdia and Halima are pushing for them to be more visible in pageants and fashion magazines alike, we still see stories of discrimination against Muslim women — specifically related to their hijabs — every single day. There’s no denying that Hamdia did, in fact, “slay” her hijab and we loved every minute of it.

TeenVogue