Everyone’s attention was drawn to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince’s response when US President Donald Trump said during his recent Middle East visit that sanctions on Syria would be lifted. Mohammed bin Salman thanked Trump by placing his palms on his breast. The gesture went viral on Saudi and Arabic social media, with users copying it in pictures and videos.
The Unicode Consortium has received a request from Saudi software developer Ali Al-Matrafi to develop a new hand-on-the-chest emoji that is modelled after the Saudi Crown Prince.
“It was a genuine moment that captured the world’s attention, and I felt it deserved to be immortalised in the language of the era: emoji,” Ali Al-Matrafi told Khaleej Times while explaining why he developed the emoji. In many humanitarian contexts, this gesture has gained popularity and is frequently used to convey profound gratitude.
According to Ali Al-Matrafi, the emoji’s design has been formally submitted to the Unicode Consortium in compliance with accepted criteria. It reflects the ideals of thankfulness and respect that are prevalent in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, while also adjusting to the region’s changing digital expressions.
He highlighted, “Emojis already depict a wide range of cultures, like the Russian matryoshka doll, the Indian sari, and the Japanese kimono. The moment has come for the Gulf and Saudi civilisations to be acknowledged in this universal language. Unicode is now reviewing the proposal, which has sparked unusual social media engagement. In less than a day, one of Ali Al-Matrafi’s tweets regarding the emoji had over 3.2 million views.
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