LIVONIA, Mich. -- At first glance, this new girl on the block doesn't give
Barbie much of a run for her money. After all, Barbie is everything Razanne
is not -- curvaceous, flashy and loaded with sex appeal. But that's exactly
why many Muslim Americans prefer Razanne, adorned in her long-sleeved dresses,
head scarf and, by her creator Ammar Saadeh's own admission, a not-so-buxom
bust line. For Saadeh, the doll not only fills a marketing void but also offers
Muslim girls a doll 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," he said.
Razanne has the body of a preteen and comes in three types: fair-skinned blonde,
olive-skinned with black hair or black skin and black hair.
On the drawing board are Razanne the physician 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.
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. Jenna never tried to take Razanne's hijab
[head scarf] off, though Barbie was usually stripped naked," she said. In
the United States, Mattel, which makes Barbie, markets a Moroccan Barbie and
sells a collector's doll named Leyla whose 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'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. Saadeh hopes Razanne will soon be marketed in Kuwait,
the United Arab Emirates and make greater inroads in southeast Asia. The doll
is sold throughout the United States, Canada, Singapore and Germany. 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. Prices range from $9.99 for a single doll to $24.99 for a set like
Teacher Razanne that includes a briefcase and other accessories
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