Kanye West Criticised For “Making Mockery Of Islam” With New Yeezy Shoe
"Having the names of angels on a shoe which is used to walk on the street is a huge form of disrespect in all Muslim communities."
Kanye West is being heavily criticised and accused of ‘disrespecting Islam’ after he named two pairs of new Yeezy Boost shoes after Islamic angels.
Adidas revealed the new shoes last week, the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Israfil and Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Asriel. Israfil is sometimes depicted as the angel of music — who will blow the horn to signal Qiyamah, the day of judgement — and one of the four archangels in the Islamic faith, while Asriel is the angel of death, who transports the souls of the dead once they have passed away.
YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 ISRAFIL. AVAILABLE AUGUST 22 IN ASIA PACIFIC, EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA AT https://t.co/SNOmpVaWg8, ON THE ADIDAS APP IN SELECT COUNTRIES, AND IN SELECT ADIDAS STORES. pic.twitter.com/TqUvKf2ion
— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) August 17, 2020
The move was roundly slammed online, and labelled disrespectful and offensive to Muslims.
Dear @adidas I am gonna STOP buying and using your products if those Kanye West's newest shoes' names aren't changed because it IT DOES NOT RESPECT Islam. #ShameOnKanyeWest #ShameOnYeezy
— saymyname (@SeptianaTri3) August 23, 2020
Kanye West and Adidas making mockery of Islam….. pic.twitter.com/LDHlJEiQ54
— Abdullah kun (@bin_zeshan) August 23, 2020
Latest controversy#KanyeWest new shoe named 'Israfil'
In #Islam, Israfil is known to be the angel that will blow a trumpet to mark the ultimate end of the world.
Naming a shoe after a significant Angel of God, in the Islamic religion, is highly disrespectful.@MuslimAdvocates pic.twitter.com/D2s8qhkGwe— Azra_H (@azra_hhh) August 19, 2020
Very disrespectful. Adidas is disrespecting Islam. Israfil is one of the four angels in Islam. Shame on @adidasoriginals and @kanyewest
— Tariqul Islam Jewel (@TariqulJewel) August 22, 2020
@kanyewest @theyeezymafia @adidas shame on you for using the name of Islam's four archangels for a shoe name. That's cultural appropriation and it is wrong and upsetting to our Muslim community. Change the shoe name. #culturalappropriation
— Sandra (@sanbrown76) August 23, 2020
A petition calling for Adidas and West to change the names is now circulating online. “It has came to the attention of the Global Muslim community that Adidas has allowed the production of a shoe that is named after an archangel in Islam,” it reads.
“This is highly offensive to the Muslim community. Having the names of angels, which we revere highly, on a shoe which is used to walk on the street is a huge form of disrespect in all Muslims communities. We demand that Adiddas [sic] cease all production of this shoe immediately, issue a sincere apology to the Muslim community and consult with a representative of the Muslim community to bridge this learning curve so this doesn’t happen again in the future.
“We are a big demographic of sales and to turn a blind eye to the insensitivity of our pain is a poor business decision.”
The petition ends by calling on Muslims to boycott the brand until Adidas ceases production of the two shoes.
The shoes retail for around AUD $330 each — the Israfil model has already sold out, with the Asriel shoe slated for release sometime next month. Neither Adidas or West have commented on the controversy.