Iran is a big deal and Mecca Live becomes a runaway success

What the Arabic language tweeters are talking about this week.

Arabic tweets this week often focussed on the Iranian nuclear deal. Joe Klamar / AP

The nuclear deal agreed between Iran and six world powers, the execution of the Reem Island murderer and appreciation of a real, live view of Mecca on the video messaging app Snapchat. Social media has been all atwitter this week in the last week of Ramadan.

Iran deal

The region, like much of the world, expressed doubt about the agreement with Iran.

Will it really contribute to security and stability in the region or will it give Iran the money and the opportunity to undo it?

“Will Iranians ever let go of their sense of being superior,” wondered @JoumanaNammour.

@eqracer shared a caricature of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the words “Baby Netanyahu throws a tantrum over Obama’s Iran deal. Get used to it.”

@ujanewsnet tweeted that Mr Obama seemed confident that Mr Netanyahu wouldn’t be able to sway the US Congress into voting against the Iran deal with possibly knock-on consequences.

@SonyKapoor addressed the myriad fears of many in the Arab world by quoting US president Barack Obama’s invocation of JFK’s immortal words: “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate”.

Reem Island murder

Convicted killer Alaa Al Hashemi’s execution on July 13 provoked a lot of reaction.

@kuwaitnyooz21 tweeted that political analysts believed that it would send a strong message to terrorists.

@abosalimuuu tweeted that “Emirates’ security is a red line” for those tempted to endanger the security of citizens and residents alike.

@Nadawa_alamiri tweeted that each UAE citizen had the right to live in peace and “justice and equality are good qualities of our beloved country.”

Ryan @rmdarnell commented: “This was extremely swift. My thoughts with Ibolya Ryan’s (the victim’s) family on this day.”

@Elvira_R_Lopes said that justice had been served with the Al Hashemi’s execution. She tweeted: “ Kudos to the police and the government.”

Mecca Live

Snapchat’s decision to have Mecca as its featured city has attracted a lot of attention. With worshippers at Mecca sharing images and personal videos from inside the city, Snapchat’s Live Story feature offered a unique view to 100 million Snapchat users.

@Yusofhshm said that “Mecca Live” as the feature was called has probably changed the “perception of millions about Islam in just a few minutes. Now they know!”

@Itz_sirleewho said it showed that “Islam is a religion of tolerance and love and surrender to God and terrorism has no religion.”

@ahmedziyadmv shared different photos of the millions of people praying in Mecca and asked: “Can you tell who is rich, poor, black or white? Allah is One and likes Unity.”

@7mowdba also agreed: “No differences here (in Mecca). Everyone is equal!”

@Dr_alqarnee said “Mecca Live” showed the true face of Islam: “This is Islam! This is justice! This is freedom! This is equality! This is human rights!”

Many non-Muslims tweeted their appreciation of the Mecca Live Story feature.

@ecelumba said: “I’m not Muslim, but thank you, @Snapchat for opening my eyes to how beautiful and captivating the world of Islam truly is.”

@LatifaMRM said that “Snapchat won so many hearts providing an unbiased, untainted, candid view of Islam, thank you.”

@MumenZanatii shared screen shots of different tweets from non-Muslims who were impressed by what they saw.

One of them said: “The Mecca Live story is so beautiful! Really shows that Muslims aren’t how the media shows them! What an amazing religion!”

Mumen added: “If non-Muslims check the hashtag #mecca_live photos, the tweets define how our religion ‘Islam’ is perfect.”

@HugMeZiam agreed: “I’m not Muslim but #mecca_live was absolutely stunning. What a beautiful religion Islam is.”

Sarah Khamis is The National’s social media editor

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On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE