CAIRO, September 23, 2005, (IslamOnline.net) - Although not the first doll with "Muslim values," Fulla, the dark-eyed brunette doll with a hijab and a prayer mat, has swept Middle East markets, replacing American Barbie and becoming a best-seller all over the region, a leading US newspaper reported Thursday, September 22.

It is nearly impossible to walk into a corner shop in Syria or Egypt or Jordan or Qatar without encountering Fulla breakfast cereal or Fulla chewing gum, or to step into the street without finding little girls pedaling their Fulla bicycles, The New York Times said.

In Damascus, a Fulla doll sells for 825 Syrian Lira, or about $16.

And yet, according to Nawal Al-Sayeedi, a clerk at the Space Toon toy store in the city's upscale Abou Roumaneh neighborhood, Fulla flies off the shelves.

"Parents complain about the expense," Sayeedi told the paper. "But Fulla gives girls a more Islamic character to emulate, and parents want that."

Fulla is not the first doll with "Muslim values" - there is a Moroccan Barbie, and a veiled doll called Sara in Iran, and one called Razanne for Muslims in Britain and the US.

But none of those have enjoyed anything approaching Fulla's popularity, according to the paper.

Fawaz Abidin, the Fulla brand manager for the doll's producer NewBoy, said the success was because the company understood the Arab market in a way that its competitors had not.

"This isn't just about putting the hijab on a Barbie doll. You have to create a character that parents and children will want to relate to," he said.

"Our advertising is full of positive messages about Fulla's character. She's honest, loving and caring, and she respects her father and mother."

In a series of animated commercials, a sweetly high-pitched voice sings the Fulla song in Arabic as a cartoon Fulla glides across the screen, saying her prayers as the sun rises, baking a cake to surprise her friend Yasmeen, or reading a book at bedtime - scenes which, according to Abidin, are "designed to convey Fulla's values."

Though Fulla will never have a boyfriend doll like Barbie's Ken, Abidin said, a Dr. Fulla and Fulla as a teacher will be introduced soon.

"These are two respected careers for women that we would like to encourage small girls to follow," he said.

According to the Times, parents who would not dream of buying Barbies for their daughters seem happy to have as an alternative modest doll who would be a role-model for their children with her own tiny prayer rug.

According to marketing and consuming behavior experts, toy industry, especially dolls, has been a major indicator of the mainstream culture and the consumer’s own trends and preferences.

Maan Abdul Salam, a Syrian women's rights activist, said the fact that little girls are more comfortable with a doll representing their own cultural norms rather than a culture that is foreign to them.

He said the percentage of young Arab women who wear the hijab is far higher now than it was a decade ago, and many girls are wearing it by choice.

"If the girls put scarves on their dolls when they're young, it might make it easier when their time comes," said Fatima Ghayeh, a 15 year-old girl.