Modest Muslim doll has pious appeal
From AP: 26 sep 03

At first glance, this new girl on the block wouldn't give Barbie much of a run for her money. After all, Barbie is everything Razanne is not – curvacious, flashy and loaded with sex appeal. But that's exactly why many Muslim Americans prefer the newer doll. With her long-sleeved dresses, hijab or Muslim head scarf and, by her creator Ammar Saadeh's own admission, a less-than-flattering bust-line, Razanne is all about modesty and piety. That image encouraged Mimo Debryn of West Bloomfield Township to buy the doll for her daughter, Jenna, four years ago. "Razanne looks like the majority of women around Jenna," said Debryn. "She loves that doll and always took care of her, giving Razanne a special place in her room, treating her with respect." "Jenna never tried to take Razanne's hijab off, though Barbie was usually stripped naked," she said as her daughter, 11, curled up on the couch and smiling.

For Saadeh, the doll not only fills a marketing void but also offers Muslim girls someone they can relate to. "The main message we try to put forward through the doll is that what matters is what's inside you, not how you look," said Saadeh, who set up NoorArt Inc with his wife and a few other investors. The Livonia-based company, founded about seven years ago, sells the Razanne doll and a number of other toys geared toward Muslim children.

"It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, thin or fat, beautiful or not, the real beauty seen by God and fellow Muslims is what's in your soul." While Barbie has a curvaceous figure, Razanne was designed with the body of a preteen. The doll comes in three types: fair-skinned blonde, olive-skinned with black hair, or black skin and black hair. Her aspirations are those of a modern Muslim woman. On the drawing board for future dolls are Dr Razanne and possibly even astronaut Razanne. There's also Muslim Girl Scout Razanne, complete with a cassette recording of the Muslim Scout's oath. What sets Razanne apart from her few competitors is that she "holds a global appeal for Muslim girls", Saadeh said.

Laila, the Arab League's answer to Barbie, offered girls of the league's 22-member states a culturally acceptable alternative to Barbie's flashy lifestyle. But she never made it to store shelves. Sara and Dara were launched a couple of years ago – Iran's version of Barbie and her beau, Ken. The two were offshoots of a children's cartoon in Iran. But Saadeh said those dolls are more "cultural and don't have mass appeal in the Middle East". In the US, Mattel, which makes Barbie, markets a Moroccan Barbie and sells a collector's piece named Leyla in the Girls From Around the World collection. Leyla's elaborate costume and tale of being taken as a slave in the court of a Turkish sultan are intended to convey the trials and tribulations of one Muslim girl in the 1720s. "It's no surprise that they'd try to portray a Middle Eastern Barbie either as a belly dancer or a concubine," said Saadeh, who noted that countering such stereotypes was one of his main aims in developing Razanne. Mattel did not respond to repeated calls seeking the company's comment.

Razanne's launch five years ago met with success, Saadeh said. While declining to give specific sales figures, he said the doll is marketed and sold throughout the United States, Canada, Singapore and Germany and soon will be sold in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In Michigan alone, there are roughly 300,000 Arab Americans, meaning there's a homegrown market for the doll. Prices range from $US9.99 ($15) for a single doll to $US24.99 for a set like Teacher Razanne that includes a briefcase and other accessories. Recently, Saudi Arabia's religious police declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality, complaining that the revealing clothes of the "Jewish" toy – already banned in the kingdom – are offensive to Islam. But Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries likely would be attracted to Praying Razanne, who comes complete with a long hijab and modest prayer gown. But lest people think that she's all about praying, there's In-Out Razanne, whose wardrobe includes a short, flowery dress she can wear inside the home, in view only of men in her family allowed to see her out of the long gowns and veil. "Razanne represents to Muslim girls that they have options, goals and dreams and the ability to realise them," said Debryn, Jenna's mother. Jenna, who recently donned the veil after much soul-searching, said Razanne makes her "feel more comfortable about being a Muslim girl". Saadeh said the feedback the company has received has been tremendous.

"We've heard from mothers who say that their daughters . . . won't let their brothers into their bedroom until Razanne has put on her hijab."  Razanne is NoorArt's best seller by far, followed by tapes and CDs of children's religious songs such as We Love Muhammad, which has been set to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

  The company also is planning to offer figures for boys, something to rival GI Joe.  "There are plenty of Arab and Muslim role models that boys can look up to, men who were scientists, mathematicians, doctors," said Saadeh, citing men such Abu Ali Hassan ibn al-Haitham, an Arab physicist who, some 1000 years ago, discovered the laws of refraction.  "It's not going to be an Osama bin Laden action figure," Saadeh said.