WASHINGTON, October 10
(IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Seeking an alternative to the curvaceous flashy Barbie, Muslims can move over and have Razanne, with long-sleeved dresses and head scarf.Making a delightful playmate and providing an ideal role model for little Muslim girls, the 12 inch pre-teen doll is to be offered for sale in the Middle East, according to afcnewssource website.There are now five different Razanne dolls, each emphasizing an important lesson for young Muslim girls, from the teacher and student Razanne dolls to the Razanne that comes replete with a prayer rug.Ammar Saadeh, one of the inventors of the doll, said that he created Razanne because there was no Barbie doll that was a positive role model for Muslim girls.Saadeh would not reveal the doll's sales figures, but he said retail sales over the company's Web site account for a majority of the almost 30,000 dolls sold per year.In Livonia, Michigan, Ammar and Sherrie Saadeh created Razanne as an alternative to Barbie for Muslim girls three years ago at their toy company NoorArt.Unlike Barbie, Razanne, with her modest dress and a removable hijab, exemplifies the virtues of a proper, young Muslim woman, such as modesty, piety and humility, said Saadeh.

Way For Values

For Saadeh, the doll not only fills a marketing void but also offers Muslim girls someone they can belong 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," he said."It is a tool for young Muslim girls to learn the value of things like education and religious piety instead of focusing on their bodies as the most significant aspect of their lives, he added.Saadeh said her aspirations are representing those of a modest Muslim girl."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," he said.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. Saadehs created School Razanne, which comes with a schoolbag, books and pants, in a bid to underscore the important role education plays in the lives of Muslim girls, reported afcnewssource.It is meant to emphasize the importance of education and that young Muslim girls can attend public school dressed in traditional Muslim attire, including a hijab, and have the confidence to succeed in their studies, said Sherrie.Other versions of the doll include and In and Out Razanne, who comes with two outfits: a western styled dress and makeup, meant to be worn casually at home, and a proper long Muslim dress and head scarf meant to be worn outside the home.Praying Razanne is another version that comes with a rig and a little toy Qura'n.

'Teaching Toll'

Ammar said the reception to Razanne has been "overwhelmingly supportive," and that he has sold tens of thousands of the dolls.After surveying 110 families who purchased Razanne, the toy manufacturer said parents were finding their young daughters mimicking the Islamic values the dolls were meant to reinforce.Mimo Debryn, who purchased a Razanne Doll for her 10-year-old daughter Jenna, says the doll is more than a toy - it's a teaching tool."Every religion teaches modesty, and for Muslims too, it's important to teach our young girls this, to keep their arms and legs covered with the traditional long dress when they're in public," says Debryn.In the United States, Mattel, which makes Barbie, markets a Moroccan Barbie and sells a collector's doll named Leyla, said a press report.Leyla's elaborate costume and tale of being taken as a slave in the court of a Turkish sultan are intended to convey the tribulations of one Muslim girl in the 1720s, it added."It's no surprise that they'd try to portray a Middle Eastern Barbie either as a belly dancer or a concubine," said Saadeh, adding that countering such stereotypes was one of his main aims in developing Razanne.