Memoirs of an American Muslim V.02

A top student and now the top high school scorer in state history, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir knows there is more to life than a game. But does she have game.

By Marty Dobrow, Globe Correspondent  |  February 8, 2009

SPRINGFIELD – Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir walks quietly through the halls of the New Leadership Charter School. She is soft-spoken and polite. The youngest child of a devout Muslim family, the 5-foot-3-inch senior believes in modesty, and is determined not to call attention to herself.

It is an impossible dream.

Bilqis cannot help standing out. For one thing, she is the top-ranked student in her class. She wants to study pre-med in college with an eye toward being a cardiac surgeon. “The heart,” she says, “is most interesting to me.”

Then there is her presence on the basketball court, where she is a magnet for the eyes of all fans, and not just because she competes with her legs and arms completely covered beneath her uniform, and with a hijab (or head scarf) over the top of her head. The point guard dazzles every night with a game that is a nonstop whir of creative fury. She darts into the lane against much bigger players, flicking in layups and reverses and hitting teammates with no-look passes. She drains pull-up jumpers and step-back 3-pointers. Despite a steady diet of double-teams and box-and-one defenses designed to stop her, she is averaging, this season, an astonishing 41.3 points per game.

A fifth-year varsity player, Bilqis (pronounced BILL-KEACE) will attend the University of Memphis this fall on a full scholarship and will become the first player at a top tier Division 1 school to compete in full Muslim dress.

Her look has drawn some curiosity, and, at times, some taunts.

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