A first time incidence will take place during the 2024 Miss Universe Beauty Pageant with a Saudi Arabian women, Rumy Alqahtani.
This development is a part of the ongoing reforms advocated by Mohammed Bin Salman, the crowned prince of Saudi Arabia.
Alqahtani used Instagram to share how crucial her country’s debut at the beauty pageant is, displaying a flag of Saudi Arabia with a Islamic kalima inscribed on it.
Alqahtani announced her participation soon after Baharain’s Lujane Yacoub at last year’s Miss Universe competition showing that she was the first female contestant from a conservative Gulf region after all.
The Independent reported that Alqahtani has a Bachelor of Dental Surgery and languages English, French and Arabic are among the langauges she can read fluently.
Besides being crowned as Miss Saudi Arabia, she has also been awarded with the titles of Miss Middle East (Saudi Arabia), Miss Arab World Peace 2021 and Miss Woman (Saudi Arabia).
Conservative Muslims worldwide have expressed their anger over the development.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is known for extremism and have been often linked to terrorists outfits like ISIS, Boko Haram and other extremist outfits.