Is it really more beneficial? Quran competition for girls doesn't really give off the same impression as a beauty competition. As a matter of fact, it might lead to a conception for the girls of "this is for ceasar, and this is for God", and what I mean by that is, one is in the realm of religion, and the other is in the realm of non-religion. When a young girl watches a hindi movie with beautiful female actresses, they don't think she is so beautiful but she is gaalo, but when they watch a female quran competition they think she is so pious and muslim and not beautiful. One side Beauty is defined for them, on the other piety and religiosity is defined for them, because to be in a quran competition is a lot of dedication and hard work most muslim girls do not engage in, while almost all of them try to beautify themselves.
This lead one to ask, is giving to Orphans better than this pageant? I reply, is that the question we should be asking? We should certainly give to orphans, but there are many needs in this world, and we need effort on all fronts. If it was the question of one or the other, than it would be a very simple answer, but it is almost not. We can't give to the orphans and neglect the young girls.
Nevertheless, the money could be spent in more constructive manner, especially considering this is a Muslim event for other Muslims.
