Rayouf Alhumedhi, 15-year old girl from Saudi was creating a new WhatsApp group with her friends and wanted the title of the group to have one emoji representing each girl. However, Rayouf realised that none of the emojis really looked like her, because she’s Muslim, and wears a hijab.
😀🌎🌍🌏📆 Happy #WorldEmojiDay! 🎉 We’ve got some 😎 new ones to show you, coming later this year! 👀👇 https://t.co/xBR9ZJ7l4g pic.twitter.com/fhDrr4J5KG
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 17, 2017She is a high school student living in Berlin, Germany, where she has been living since 2012. She soon submitted an emoji proposal, when she saw a story on Snapchat explaining how to submit it. And, there began the hijab emoji journey. The emoji means a representation for a 15-year old who was simply looking for an emoji of herself, but looks like some Twitterati have began ranting how it also represents women oppression.
Celebrating the World Emoji day, Apple shared the new emojis that are coming to iOS, macOS and watchOS. These include Woman with Headscarf, Bearded Person and Breastfeeding, and food items such as Sandwich and Coconut. More animals and mythical creatures like T-Rex, Zebra, Zombie and Elf are a fun way to describe situations and new Star-Struck and Exploding Head smiley faces. However, it is just the hijab emoji that has caused a stir and a few Twitterati are fuming. Here are some tweets:
Can we come up with an emoji of a woman being stoned to death because she refused to wear a hijab? #BoycottApple #IslamKills @tim_cook pic.twitter.com/SWk6V5bfJi
— AM (@CM2ALAW) July 18, 2017the hijab is a symbol of oppression. by including it as an emoji you are showing your support for the oppression of women.
— Joeymp (@joeymp123) July 17, 2017Apple Unveils
"Hijab-Wearing Emoji."
Time for me to Boycott #IPhones, #AppleWatches, #IPads and #Macs. Goodbye Apple!
Apple is launching a #HIJAB emoji! So every time I want to tell someone they're being #OPPRESSIVE I can use it pic.twitter.com/qavKHZfNe4
— "Gitmo" Bama (@President1Trump) July 18, 2017