The singer Rihanna has been urged to apologise to Muslims after using a song featuring hadith as a soundtrack for her latest lingerie show.
A video of the show, which saw models dancing around on stage in the singer’s provocative Savage x Fenty lingerie, was shared on Amazon Prime last week.
Muslims were outraged after discovering Rihanna, 32, chose to use the song Doom, by London producer Coucou Chloe, which features a hadith narration.
The hadith in question appears to have remixed a recitation by Kuwaiti preacher Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy.
Coucou Chloe’s most recent Instagram post has hundreds of users criticising her track on it. On Monday, she posted an apology on Twitter.
“I want to deeply apologise 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. At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith,” Chloe wrote.
“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.”
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Thousands of Rihanna fans from varying religious backgrounds took to Twitter to urge her to remove the song from Amazon Prime recording and to apologise for offending Muslims.
One person wrote: “As a Muslim I’m deeply offended this is beyond words… it’s shameful and pathetic. And all the non-Muslims defending the situation please learn to respect ALL RELIGIONS and perhaps find yourself some guts to speak on what’s wrong. @Rihanna”
Venting frustration, another said: “If you guys don’t know much about Islam (that is completely fine) A Hadith is the words/advice that our Prophet Mohammad (SAV) spoke and gave to people to educate them. It is very disrespectful to use it in a video of people dancing and even more in a lingerie show.”
A third added: ‘Um? What? So because it’s Rihanna we’re gonna ignore how she’s done it repeatedly? So because it’s Rihanna, we’re going to ignore that she CLEARLY knew how disrespectful this was?
Rihanna and her company have not responded to the backlash yet.
The Barbadian singer included hijab-wearing model Halima Aden in the launch of her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty in 2017. She also promoted Fenty sunglasses last year with a hijabi model.
However, she has also been accused of appropriating Islamic dress. Last year’s Savage X Fenty lingerie launch featured women, including Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid, with their hair covered in a way that some interpreted as similar to hijab.
In 2013, Rihanna was asked to leave the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi after posing for photos in a way that was deemed inappropriate.
“She was asked to leave before entering the actual mosque (she was in the courtyard taking pictures), after taking some photos that did not fit within the rules and regulations set out to preserve the sacredness of the centre,” the mosque said in a statement at the time.
The singer later posted pictures on Instagram covered head to toe in black, including one post with Muslim women in the background, captioned “Bitch stole my look”.
