New emoji? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's thank-you gesture to Trump goes viral

During US President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East, his incredible rapport with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had caught the world's attention. Trump, who enjoys close relations with the Saudi Royal family, lavished praise on the Crown Prince for his leadership qualities. 

However, the biggest geopolitical event of Trump’s Gulf tour was his decision to lift sanctions on Syria and his meeting with the new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump, during his speech in Saudi, pointed to bin Salman, and said: "What I do for the crown prince," before adding that "the sanctions were brutal and crippling but now it’s Syria's time to shine."

 It was then that bin Salman reacted with a unique gesture of placing his hands on his chest, after applauding at Trump's announcement.

The Crown Prince's actions soon went viral, with both Syrians and Saudis imitating the gesture. They took to social media to imitate the gesture and to thank bin Salman for his intervention. One Syrian posted a video, stating how the gesture was "a message that tells the world that Saudi Arabia stands with Syria during a moment of change."

So much so that a Saudi software engineer went ahead and created an emoji. "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."

The emoji shows a smiling male character dressed in a traditional Saudi white thobe and red and white checkered headdress, with both hands clasped on his chest. 

However, it will take a while for the emoji to appear on devices as the Unicode Consortium, the non-profit that approves all emojis, has strict criteria for submission. Approvals take a minimum of two years, and even if it gets approved, it would take months or years before they eventually appear on devices.