Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir (@qis_mo) was born on November 11, 1990 in Springfield, Massachusetts. From a young age, Bilqis loved basketball, picking one up for the first time when she was just 4 years old at her local YMCA. She joined the varsity team at her local school and when she went to high school, rapidly excelled on the varsity team there. When she was a freshman, she scored her 1,000th point and during her senior year, she set the record for the most points with 3,070 beating the previous records of 2,740. In 2009, she was named Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the year and that same year she started at the University of Memphis with a full ride scholarship. Because of an injury in the preseason, she was redshirted and unable to play for her first season at university. But in 2010, she was cleared to play and in doing so, became the first player in NCAA history to wear hijab. Bilqis was awarded the United States Basketball Writers Association “Most Courageous” player at the NCAA’s final four. She was also invited to the White House during Ramadan to break fast with President Obama and was acknowledged by him as the first player to wear hijab in collegiate basketball. She graduated from university in 2013 and used her final eligible season to play at Indiana State University. That season she was named the Conference Outstanding Newcomer and led the team to the Missouri Valley Conference title. Bilqis hoped to play professionally in Europe after completing her tenure in collegiate basketball but was informed that the International Basketball Federation prohibits headgear longer than 5 inches. Unwilling to stray from her beliefs, she refused to play professional in Europe until the rule was overturned. She petitioned for an exemption and in 2017, FIBA eventually ruled in her favor. She has also started an online campaign entitled Muslim Girls Hoop Too, which aims to raise awareness about Muslim women in sports and empower Muslim women to stay true to themselves.