Saudi engineer turns Crown Prince's gesture to Trump into viral emoji

It was a gesture seen around the world. Now, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's heartfelt reaction to US President Donald Trump could soon become an emoji, if one software engineer has his way.

Ali Almatrafi, who lives in Riyadh, created the emoji after he saw many Saudis reacting warmly to the interaction between the Crown Prince and Trump at the US-Saudi Investment Forum during the American President's visit to the Kingdom. The moment was captured when Trump announced the cessation of sanctions against Syria, which was met with huge applause. A smiling Crown Prince Mohammed was then seen clapping and holding his hands over his chest.

"It was a spontaneous and heartfelt symbol of gratitude and a very Arab reaction," Almatrafi tells The National. "A lot of Saudis were touched by it and I felt like I needed to do something to capture the moment.

"There is a Japanese kimono emoji, Indians have the sari, the French have a baguette emoji and there are emojis representing Russian and Chinese cultures. But we don't have anything that is distinctly Saudi or Arab or Gulf."

Almatrafi's emoji shows a smiling male character, dressed in a traditional white thobe and red and white shemagh or headdress, with both hands clasped on his chest. In the Arab world, placing the palm of the right hand on the heart or chest is often used as a sign of gratitude.

While creating the emoji took Almatrafi only a few hours, drafting the proposal was a laborious process, he says. Unicode Consortium, the non-profit that approves all emojis, has strict criteria for submission, with approvals taking a minimum of two years. Once approved, it could still be months or years before they eventually appear on devices.

Almatrafi says his emoji is meant to be used to convey gratitude.

"It's not really a thank you, but to communicate utmost gratitude. Like when someone does you a favour and you want to show how much you appreciate it from the bottom of your heart. It's very Arab," he says.

Whether or not it gets approved, the Saudi software engineer is glad his creation has already sparked conversations about Saudi culture and identity and about Crown Prince Mohammed.

His recent post about the emoji on X has garnered hundreds of retweets and more than 3.6 million views.

"I create things like this all the time, but never has something I've done gone viral," says Almatrafi, who is the head of curriculum at Tuwaiq Academy, an institute in Riyadh that trains people in cybersecurity.

"I'm glad I've helped to raise awareness about Saudis and about Gulf culture and also got people talking about His Highness Mohammed bin Salman and what he's doing for the development of Saudi Arabia."

During Trump's visit, AI-generated images of him in a local dress were also widely shared online by Saudis, reflecting the strong favourable impression he's made on the Kingdom. The images showed Trump in traditional attire with a white thobe and a red-and-white headdress held in place with a black agal.

For Almatrafi, the biggest reward is that Saudis have given his emoji an overwhelming thumbs up.

"The main prize for me is that so many Saudis and people in the Gulf region are already loving it and using it," he says. "Such support and love were something I did not expect."