The choice of music Rihanna used recently for a fashion show has gotten the music superstar-turned-beauty-and- lingerie entrepreneur in hot water with the Muslim community.
She used a song featuring sacred Islamic texts during a provocative Savage x Fenty lingerie show. The singer has since apologized.
In a statement posted to her Instagram stories, Rihanna said it was an “honest, yet careless mistake.”
She was accused of disrespecting Muslims by using a Hadith in a show. “Hadiths are sacred texts believed to have been spoken by Prophet Muhammad,” The Daily Mail reported. The song Rihanna used was called “Doom” by London-based producer Coucou Chloe and the song features vocal samplings from a Hadith. The hadith used in the song seems to have remixed a recitation by Kuwaiti preacher Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy, Middle East Eye reported. Fans were outraged by the music.
Rihanna has used “Doom,” though not the remixed version, before for a 2017 fashion show.
For Muslims, it is considered haram, or forbidden, to use Allah’s name, the words of the Quran or the prophet Muhammad improperly, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“Rihanna is messed up for using a song with a Hadith in it to play at her LINGERIE show. What is up with artists using Islam as an aesthetic?? Have some respect” one person tweeted.
“i can’t let Rihanna have a pass w appropriating Islam like for her first show the models wore a scarf around their heads and it looked like HIJAB and her second show she used a track that remixed a HADITH….why is no one talking about this, my religion is not y’all’s aesthetic” .@reversecocunut tweeted.
Rihanna wrote in her Instagram Stories, “I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show. I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.”
A video of the fashion show shared on Amazon Prime shows models dancing around on stage in the singer’s risque Savage x Fenty lingerie. Celebrities including Miguel, Lizzo, Bella Hadid, Demi Moore, and Cara Delevigne also appeared in the show, The Daily Mail reported.
Rihanna, 32, has often been known for promoting models of different races and sizes, including in the fashion show.
But when it comes to the representation of Muslims, she has a mixed record, Middle East Eye reported.
Rihanna included hijab-wearing model Halima Aden in the launch of her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty in 2017, and she was accused of appropriating Islamic dress.
In 2019, models for Savage X Fenty lingerie launch, including Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid, had their hair covered in a way that some interpreted as similar to hijab.
