Rihanna apologises for using song featuring hadith at fashion show
Singer Rihanna issued an apology on Tuesday for using a song that featured a hadith narration during her second Savage x Fenty lingerie fashion show.
The song "Doom" by London-based producer Coucou Chloe was released in 2017. It was played during a portion of Rihanna's show, which was streamed on Amazon Prime.
Hadiths are the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The hadith used in the song appears to be a recitation by Kuwaiti preacher Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy, and is a reference to the signs of the day of judgment and the end of time.
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The incident angered Muslims across the world who called her out on social media.
“I would 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 her Instagram stories. “I would more importantly like to apologise to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.”
— Savage X Fenty by Rihanna (@SavageXFenty) October 6, 2020
She admitted that the use of the song was “completely irresponsible” and promised to “make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
“We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this!” she added.
Chloe also apologised “for the offence” saying she was not aware that the samples used in the song included text from hadith.
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. 1/2
— COUCOU CHLOE (@coucou_chloe) October 5, 2020
“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,” she tweeted.
This is not the first time, Rihanna has received backlash for hurting Muslim sentiment. In 2013, she was asked to leave a mosque in Abu Dhabi after posing for “inappropriate pictures.”
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