Rihanna has issued an apology to the Muslim community for a “careless mistake” during her fashion show.
The singer and fashion designer was criticised for including a song that features a sample from Islam’s sacred Hadith texts.
The song was played during her 2020 Savage X Fenty fashion show last week. Some Muslim fans accused Rihanna of disrespecting their religion, leading the pop star to issue an apology.
— Savage X Fenty by Rihanna (@SavageXFenty) October 6, 2020
“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 in her Instagram Stories. “I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.”
Rihanna said she is “incredibly disheartened” after hurting “many of our Muslim brothers and sisters”.
She added: “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.”
The offending song is titled Doom by producer Coucou Chloe. She had earlier apologised on social media.
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
She tweeted: “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.
“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.”
In Islam, a Hadith is part of a collection of texts that form a record of the Prophet Mohammad’s words and actions. The texts are considered second only to the Koran in terms of importance in Islam.