Pop star Rihanna has apologized to the Muslim community after a song containing lyrics from the Hadith, a sacred collection of Islamic texts believed to be the spoken words of the Prophet Muhammad, were played during her Savage X Fenty fashion show. The song itself is not a track by Rihanna, but rather “Doom,” recorded by artist Cocou Chloe. The Hadith lyrics in question discuss judgement day, according to BBC.
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show,” Rihanna wrote on social media Tuesday. “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!”
Chloe for her part has already apologized for the use of these lyrics in the song, stating that she wasn’t aware that it used Islamic verses. This isn’t the first Islam-related controversy Rihanna has been involved with either, back in 2013 she was asked to leave a mosque in Abu Dhabi after allegedly posting “inappropriate pictures.”
This controversy was also heightened by the fact that these deeply religious scriptures were played during a lingerie fashion show, which conflicts with Islam’s more modest depictions of women.
“This is a Hadith and it’s been put into a song where women are dancing around in lingerie,” fashion blogger Arooj Aftab told the Asian BBC network. “Islam is very modest – [this is] opposite to that. I think every single Muslim has a right to be offended.”
This sentiment was echoed by fellow fashion blogger Hodhen Liaden, a Rihanna and Fenty fan who BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat “Islam is not an aesthetic, religion is not an aesthetic.”
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