Kuwaiti brand says "haya" means life and "halwa" translates to beautiful

A Kuwaiti clothing brand issued a clarification regarding the harassment incident in Lahore, Pakistan, where a woman was targeted by an angry mob for wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy printed on it.

The Kuwaiti company, Semplicita, stated on its Instagram story, “Dear Pakistani people, we have nothing to do with the recent incident that happened to the innocent girl. We are based in Kuwait and we do not ship worldwide. Please stop following and messaging since it’s very disturbing.”

“We use Arabic words and letters in different fonts everywhere since it's our language,” it added. 

Several Pakistani social media users have targeted the Instagram posts of a Kuwaiti clothing brand, harassing and condemning the brand for its design, drawing parallels to religious text.

“They are trying to introduce this in Pakistan cleverly...its Arabic, the language of jannah...See how is it touching the ground and it doesn't only say word halawa as they explained above....This is the lobby of kaffar [infidels]... Every language came out of Arabic, should not be used in such a way... Allah said to stop such evil activities right in the beginning of it... Proud of the ones who understood it,” a comment read on the post.

The brand clarified that the Arabic words "halwa" and "haya" printed on the dress translate literally to "beautiful" and "life," respectively.

The harassment incident occurred in Lahore’s Ichhra bazar on Sunday when videos surfaced on social media, showing a policewoman, Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, addressing an angry mob to remain calm as she safely rescued a girl accused of blasphemy for wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy.

According to reports, some shopkeepers defended the girl, providing her shelter in a shop and explaining to the mob that it was merely an Arabic calligraphy print. Eyewitnesses reported that most of the individuals in the charged mob were either customers, visitors, or passersby.

In the video, the girl, petrified by the fear of violence, can be seen sitting inside a shop, surrounded by the police, as an angry mob outside chanted anti-blasphemy slogans. 

The traders attempted to pacify the crowd by clarifying that the girl's dress did not disrespect Islam. Despite some accepting this explanation, some charged fanatics persisted with blasphemy allegations.

Recognising the sensitivity of the situation, the traders promptly called the police to the scene. As tensions escalated, higher officials were also summoned immediately, who intervened to diffuse the situation and took the woman under protective custody.

Gulberg Circle ASP Syeda Shehrnano Naqvi courageously rescued the woman from the enraged mob, and received praise for her actions in such a highly sensitive situation, where similar incidents in the past have tragically escalated into mob lynching.

In a video circulating on social media, the policewoman addresses the mob, saying, “During my service, I have handled three such incidents, and you should have trust in us [police].” The clip shows her covering up the girl and personally escorting her out of the crowd.

An hour after detaining the girl, police officials clarified to the media that the word ‘Halwa’ written on the girl's shirt was not a holy word but rather means ‘sweet’ in English, having no connection with Quranic verses.

While recording her statement to the media, seated with the clerics, the girl apologised for wearing an Arabic calligraphy shirt, saying that she belongs to a religious family and could not even consider disrespecting Islam.

However, several clerics, journalists, and social media users said that there was no need to force a girl to apologise, who hadn't committed any blasphemy.