Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show receives backlash for appropriating Islamic Hadith

The singer has since apologised for featuring an Islamic Hadith on the runway

Rihanna onstage during the Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2
(Image credit: Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Rihanna has been criticized for appropriating Islam during her Savage x Fenty Vol. 2 show

The 32-year-old singer and entrepreneur used a song featuring a Hadith as a soundtrack on the runway of the lingerie fashion show, which premiered on Amazon Prime over the weekend. 

Hadiths are sayings by the Prophet Muhammed and are a sacred part of Islam quoted in the Quran, so it didn't take long before viewers noticed the misuse of the vocal sayings. 

Many took to social media to express their hurt and frustration, calling Rihanna out for appropriating the religion and disrespecting the Muslim faith. 

"This needs to be spoken about. This song has verses of the Quran mixed in the beat. This is so disrespectful and disturbing for all Muslims and should be spoken about," one viewer wrote on Twitter. 

The song featured is titled Doom and is by London producer Coucou Chloe, who has since taken to social media to apologize. 

"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. At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith," she wrote on Twitter

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"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." 

Rihanna also issued an apology via Instagram stories on Tuesday, calling the incident an "honest yet careless mistake." 

"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. "I would more important like to apologies to you for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sister, 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."

Sagal Mohammed

Sagal is a journalist, specialising in lifestyle, pop culture, fashion and beauty.  She has written for a number of publications including Vogue, Glamour, Stylist, Evening Standard, Bustle, You Magazine, Dazed and Wonderland to name a few.