'Apple is at War With the Niqab': Unexpected Controversy Over the iPhone X

Published September 16th, 2017 - 10:32 GMT
"Apple is at war with the niqab" has been trending in Arabic since Tuesday (Twiter)
"Apple is at war with the niqab" has been trending in Arabic since Tuesday (Twiter)
  • A controversial British columnist mocked niqabi women over not being able to use the iPhone X.
  • The writer was slammed for her comments on Twitter.
  • Meanwhile a popular Arabic hashtag suggested it was an anti-niqab conspiracy.
  • That theory was widely satirized online.

When British columnist and well-known Islamophobe Katie Hopkins tweeted on Tuesday using the iPhone X to make fun of women wearing the niqab, she was widely mocked.

The new smartphone, which was unveiled by Apple on Tuesday, will use facial recognition software to unlock the screen. The niqab is a facial covering worn by some Muslim women, revealing only the eyes.

One reply, with 625 likes, read: “Wearing a burka or hijab is an expression of religion. To attempt to humiliate women simply for choosing to express their religion is vile”.

Others made fun of Hopkins, including joking that the Face ID would be equally hard for her to use, wearing the uniform of white supremicists the KKK.

Another response appealed for her to “just let people do what they want and wear what they want”, while her tweet was described as "ignorant" and "dumb".

As foul as her views are - she lost her job at a radio station in May after calling for a “final solution” to solve terrorism - Hopkins was not the only one to tweet about the issue.

In fact, one popular Arabic hashtag suggested that “Apple is at war with the niqab”.

Launched soon after the iPhone X was announced on Tuesday, the viral trend was still going strong on Saturday.

 

 

But are niqabi women really up-in-arms over the Face ID feature?

There were those in Saudi Arabia, where the tag began, who saw it as a threat to their religious and cultural identity.

@hammad676 received 312 retweets for his comment that: “iPhone 8 requires you to show your face. You don't know what iPhone 9 will require. An attempt to westernize society and leave behind heritage and values.”

Meanwhile, @__altamimi_12 warned: “My young brother, beware of every girl who owns an iPhone. Whoever is happy to take off her veil for a device will take it off for others.”

However, these responses were in the minority and the hashtag was soon flooded with sarcasm and satire.

The pictured tweets read: “iPhone 8 wants to see your faces, our girls, then they will send them to employees of Apple who will blackmail you.” The reply adds: “My phone is a Galaxy, out of respect for those who raised me.”

Are you serious? Apple should withdraw all the iPhones from the Gulf and say stick with the Nokia with the lights since this is your way of thinking and your hashtag.

Others joked that “good girls use Samsung”, with many pointing out that there was no need to buy the phone, and plenty of other options are available.

@girl_cairo tweeted : “Why have you over complicated the matter? Apple will launch a normal generation with fingerprint [recognition]. iPhone8 and iPhone X have a Face ID. If you don't want this, buy the other one.”

Another, @zesto11, complained: “the problem is the people who think the whole world has a conspiracy against them."

In all, it is probably safe to say that the new iPhones are not a western conspiracy against the niqab.

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Tags:SamsungAppleKu Klux KlanKatie Hopkins
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