Jun 4, 2002 1:16 pm US/Eastern
NEW YORK
MUSLIM DOLL

In Iran, where Barbie Dolls have been flooding the toy market, Iranian police for the last three months have been pulling them from the shelves and confiscating them. One toy seller, Masoumeth Rahimi, is quoted as saying, "I think every Barbie Doll is more harmful than an American missile. "Here in the United States, without any police or government intervention, some American muslims have replaced Barbie too\,. with the more modestly dressed Razanne doll. One mother says, "A lot of the girls relate to it as the Muslim Barbie, hah, it's almost as though we converted Barbie, heh, heh."
On the living room floor in a suburban Detroit home, two American Muslim girls are playing with Razanne dolls.

One says, "Let's pretend that the teacher is teaching us how to pray. You can use my doll today. "The other replies, "Okay, you can use mine. "Razanne doesn't look anything like Barbie, nor is she supposed to. There are five versions of Razanne. Ten year old Anisa Abadr and her friend Jenna have the Praying Razanne, the Schoolgirl Razanne and the Teacher Razanne. Anisa says, "The school girl, I pretend I'm teaching her sometimes. "Jenna says, "She's like an Islamic doll and she sort of teaches me how to dress when I'm wearing the scarf. "Jenna's mother, Mimo Debryn likes it that the Razanne doll wears the traditional scarf, the hajib, and doesn't come with Barbie's sports, cars, campers and racy clothes. She says, "This is a great way for my daughter to have a toy that reminded her that this is the way things are at home, the way things are in the community. I think it's made her feel like, you know, it's okay to be Muslim in America, quite honestly. "Three years ago, toy retailer Ammar Saadeh created the Razanne doll after seeing Muslim children playing with Barbie.

Saadeh says, "My wife and myself felt that doesn't really represent us as Muslims, trying to tell their children, especially their daughters, it's good to be modest. "Razanne means modest woman in Arabic and Saadeh has sold thousands. He says, "We try to teach our Muslim daughters that the focus is not the figure, the focus is your brain and your spirit."