CAIRO – Finding serenity in Islam, a former beauty queen of Democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia has reverted to Islam, settling down in Dubai where she works.

According to a report by Al Quds Al-Arabi newspaper in London, Marketa Korinkova has embraced Islam months ago and changed her name as Maryam.

An international fame production designer, super-model and film actress, Marketa Korinkova surprised her fans by making this announcement, The Siasat Daily reported on Monday, February 29.

In 2012, she was elected Miss Motors in a beauty contest held in Italy, after which she gained fame.

According to the paper, Maryam has been thinking of embracing this faith for the past three years. She made a public announcement in Dubai of her accepting Islam.

She said that the status given to Muslim women in Islam attracted her to accept this faith.

Maryam holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Charles University of Prague.

Later, she did her MA in Production Designing from National Film and TV School of the Royal College of Arts, London. She also worked for BBC.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

The status of women in Islam is often the target of attacks in the secular media, with many citing the Islamic dress as an example of the “subjugation” of women under Islamic law.

Yet, the truth is that 1400 years ago, Islam recognized women’s rights in a way that grants them the utmost protection and respect as well, a combination other systems fail to offer.

Islam granted them freedom of expression, political participation, business and financial rights, and asked the rest of society to hold them in high esteem and offer them due respect as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.