Rihanna has issued an apology to her Muslim fans for using a sacred Islamic verse as the soundtrack to her latest fashion show.
The 32-year-old Bajan singer and fashion designer showcased her latest Savage x Fenty lingerie collection on Amazon Prime last week, and the Muslim community almost instantly took to social media to voice their concerns over her choice of music.
Rihanna had used the 2017 song Doom by Coucou Chloe, which included a remixed version of the Islamic Hadith playing alongside it as her models walked the runway.
The Islamic Hadith is a written record of the sacred words and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, coming second only to the Quran, the holy book of Islam, in terms of textual authority…
“As a Muslim, no words can describe how disappointed I am with Rihanna for letting her models dance to hadith,” a Muslim fan wrote on Twitter.
“Hadith are the sacred words of our prophet, you can’t just use it for your lingerie show. Disgusting and extremely disrespectful.”
Here are a few other comments from disappointed fans:
@fIrareoutsold
“y’all don’t realize how disrespectful it was what Rihanna did. she didn’t use music thats in Arabic or anything. she used a hadith, hadith and arabic songs are two different things, and she used the words of our prophet,that are meant to guide muslims, for her lingerie show…”
@mairanotmaria2
“How does Rihanna pride herself and her brand for speaking up for diversity and inclusion and then alienate the Muslim community by using a sped up Hadith w music playing over it at a whole LINGERIE SHOW. Beyond disrespectful”
@myeshachou
“okay the fact that rihanna’s show was supposed to be a keystone for “inclusion” while she completely alienated the Muslim community by disrespecting a Hadith recitation is the perfect showcase of how fashion brands & the media have never considered us as a part of their audience”
Rihanna took to Instagram to thank people for bringing the oversight to her attention, and to apologize profusely for causing offense…
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our Savage x Fenty show,” she wrote on Instagram after learning of the backlash.
“I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.
“We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this! I do not play with any kind of disrespect toward God or any religion and therefore the use of the song in our project was completely irresponsible!
“Moving forward we will make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
“Thank you for your forgiveness and understanding, Rih.”
London-based Doom producer Coucou Chloe also issued an apology on social media…
“I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM’. The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online,” she wrote on Twitter.
“At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith.
“I take full responsibility for the fact I did not research these words properly and want to thank those of you who have taken the time to explain this to me.
“We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”
We’re glad that both Rihanna and Coucou Chloe have apologized.