Rihanna released her second fashion show for Savage X Fenty on Amazon Prime Video Friday. When watching the show, her Muslim fans noticed that one of the songs used in the show included a chopped and remixed Hadith, which is an Islamic scripture.
Tumblr account Sunbrujo summarized why the use of the scripture in this way is considered Islamophobic in a viral post. “The hadith used is of prophet [Muhammad] explaining signs of the day of [judgment], which is also called [doomsday] and you know what the song is called? Doom,” the account wrote. “[Hadiths] are very important in our religion and to make a song out of one of them and dance to it is just pure mockery of our religion.”
Others on different social media platforms likewise criticized Rihanna’s use of the song.
“[Y’all] don’t realize how disrespectful it was what Rihanna did. [She] didn’t use music [that’s] 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,” One person tweeted.
Another called out a hypothetical double standard. “[This] is very disrespectful and should be [apologized] for. [If] this was a bible verse the world would have erupted,” they tweeted.
In an Instagram Story, Rihanna apologized, calling the use of the prayer a “huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive,” and thanked the Muslim community for bringing it to her attention. “I would, more importantly, like to apologize for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters and I’m incredibly disheartened by this,” she wrote.
“I do not play with any kind of disrespect towards 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,” she continued.
An alleged Instagram DM from the star to a fan has also been circulating online. “I just hope people don’t think I did this on purpose or to be offensive or anything like that! Cause you know I would NEVER!! So I’m editing it out now, but of course you can’t take it back, you know?!” part of the alleged DM reads.
The message, however, has yet to be verified, and some are speculating that it’s fake.
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