Ahmed Mohamed speaks out after being arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school. | Courtesy of Getty Images
If he had another name, religion or belonged to another ethnic group, would 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed have been suspended and later arrested on Monday in Dallas for bringing a clock he built to school?
The issue at hand has become immediately evident.
Ahmed is Muslim, with a name that suggests as much. Because Ahmed is from the African nation of Sudan, it is likely that he was racially profiled.
Men, women and children like him have been detained at airports and faced other forms of ethnic profiling for similar reasons.
Nevertheless, he is just a 14-year-old American boy who wanted to make his MacArthur High School teacher proud by revealing a clock he built at home.
But we are not blind to the underlying issue in America today.
Ahmed’s case has been another instance of police violating the rights of a citizen. According to the Texas Family Code Section 52.025, “A child may not be left unattended in a juvenile processing office and is entitled to be accompanied by the child’s parent, guardian, or other custodian or by the child’s attorney.”
He was repeatedly denied the right to see his parents, and he was not able to meet with them until he was released from a juvenile detention center.
Perhaps this issue is largely important because last week all of America remembered the travesties that occurred on 9/11.
Perhaps this issue is important because, although the tragic Boston Marathon bombing was two years ago, it is still fresh in our minds — especially since Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced earlier this year.
Perhaps this issue is important because, although the U.S. government does not track religious affiliation, the Muslim population in the U.S. has seen significant growth and is projected to greatly increase in the following years. (The Muslim population will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religion in the second half of this century.)
Whatever the reason, we see law enforcement failing to recognize the civil rights of one of its young citizens.
We have seen that, because of the actions of a few extremists, there are many people in America who seem to have hastily generalized millions of others who have done us no harm.
Many of us support the positive outcomes that have come from this otherwise awful event. As a result of this incident, Ahmed has received an invitation from President Barack Obama to visit the White House and support from Hillary Clinton, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, MIT and NASA.
We stand with Ahmed and for a tolerant America that honors the freedom promised to its entire people since the founding of the nation.
Poor kid…
His situation is nothing to laugh at, but his name is pretty generic when it comes to middle-eastern names.
It’s like a a white guy named John Smith.
Great, more Muslim solidarity. I’d find it inoffensive if they would also, even if just once in a while, stand in solidarity for the millions killed by their brethren and in the name of Allah.
And yes I am an Islamophobe thanks to 1,400 years of Islamic barbarism. What we are seeing today is not a snapshot but part of a continuum that dates back to Islam’s first days.
Croatia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda are just recent examples of Christian barbarism that has 600 more years on Islam. Many Muslims do stand up against the terrorist attacks done in their religion’s name. How many here stand up for the terrorist attacks of drones on civilians, the continued incarceration at Guantanamo, the continued absolute support of a country with more human rights violations than any other, i.e. Israel?
The fact is this kid is an American citizen, his civil rights were violated and if he had been jewish or chistian he would not have been treated the way he was. Your islamophobe does not trump the constitution, due process, and the law.
Theresa, I need to take “cool” lessons from you! You are so hip and no all the cache phrases.
You know though, Theresa, when a Christian kills someone they are violating Christ’s teachings. When a Christian rapes a woman they are violating Christ’s teachings. You do know this, no?
This does not mean that Christians follow Christ’s teachings it just means there is a construct – a Golden Rule – that should be their guideposts to a good life. It’s not uncommon for people to ignore these guideposts. Not everyone can be a saint – above it all – like you.
On the contrary, you do know that in Islam it is codified that killing others in the name of jihad, in the name of building the worldwide Ummah is sanctioned. In fact, Mohammed and his men did this countless times. There was no turn the other cheek, for Muslims. There was no love thy neighbor, for Muslims. There was no do unto others as you would have them do for you, for Muslims.
Now you can trivialize the differences all you want. You can play your PC games if that makes you the most popular girl on campus but it only goes to show how inane and misinformed you really are. Your pretense concerning your breadth of knowledge is laughable.
Oh, and by the way…I didn’t know Christians in Zimbabwe were killing infidels in the name of Christ. I didn’t know they were shouting “Jesus Akbar” as they murdered countless people.
And while I’m on that thread, I did not know that Robert Mugabe pretended to be a Christian in the first place or committed his endless barbarism in the name of Christ. And even if he does do so it is in direct violation of everything Christ stood for. Unlike Mohammed, Christ actually cared about his fellow man.
No you don’t need cool lessons from me, you could use some fact checking lessons though and learn to make an argument without making it personal.
Fact check there is no more calling for killing that there is in the old testament. You are more than welcome to correct my pc gaming, inane, and misinformed self by directing to the the passages in the Quran that direct Muslims to kill and rape.
I find it amusing that when christians are confronted with the horrors done in the name of their religion, they say those that perpetrate such acts are not real christians, but when it is done from another group then its because that religion is evil. Again, show me where in the Quran it calls for such and not what some twisted individual who wraps them self in the guise of religion righteousness says.
OH and if you can do it with the tone of a well thought out argument and not that of condescension it would be appreciated.
On September 25, 2002, a group of armed Islamists in Karachi, Pakistan entered the office of a Christian charity, tied seven workers to chairs and then brutally murdered them. According to Muslim witnesses, the Muslims “showed no haste. They took a good 15 minutes in segregating the Christians and making sure that each one of their targets received the most horrific death.”
The killing of non-Muslim humanitarian workers by devout followers of Islam occurs quite often. While there is rarely any celebration on the part of other Muslims, neither is there much outrage expressed by a community renowned for its peevishness.
While rumors of a Quran desecration or a Muhammad cartoon bring out deadly protests, riots, arson and effigy-burnings, the mass murder of non-Muslims fails to raise any sort of real passion. In the eleven years following 9/11 nearly 20,000 acts of deadly Islamic terrorism were perpetrated, yet all of them together do not provoke the sort of outrage on the part of most Muslims that the mere mention of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo inspires.
This critical absence of moral perspective puzzles many Westerners, particularly those trying to reconcile this reality with the politically-correct assumption that Islam is like other religion. The Judeo-Christian tradition preaches universal love and unselfishness, so it is expected that the more devout Muslims would be the most peaceful and least dangerous… provided that Islam is based on the same principles.
But beneath the rosy assurances from Muslim apologists that Islam is about peace and tolerance lies a much darker reality that better explains the violence and deeply-rooted indifference. Quite simply, the Quran teaches supremacy, hatred and hostility.
Consider the elements that define hate speech:
Drawing a distinction between one’s own identity group and those outside it
Moral comparison based on this distinction
Devaluation or dehumanization of other groups and the personal superiority of one’s own
The advocating of different standards of treatment based on identity group membership
A call to violence against members of other groups
Sadly, and despite the best intentions of many decent people who are Muslim, the Quran qualifies as hate speech on each count.
The holiest book of Islam (61% of which is about non-Muslims) draws the sharpest of distinctions between Muslims (the best of people, 3:110) and non-believers (the worst of creatures, 98:6). Praise is lavished on the former while the latter is condemned with scorching generalization. Far from teaching universal love, the Quran incessantly preaches the inferiority of non-Muslims, even comparing them to vile animals and gloating over Allah’s hatred of them and his dark plans for their eternal torture. Naturally, the harsh treatment of non-believers by Muslims is encouraged as well.
Polished Muslim pundits in the West are fond of using the word ‘bigot’ to describe critics of Islam, but they are rarely challenged on their own view of the Quran. What does the book they claim to be the literal and eternal word of Allah really say about non-Muslims?
you cited two passages from the Quran. Read your bible for how christians should treat non believers with such quotes as:
they are without god — 2 John 9
they are antichrists – 2 John 7
They should be shunned. Neither marry nor be friends with them. — 2 Cor.6:14-17
They should be killed. — Dt.13:6-10
and so many many more like condoning slavery and rape.
The point is I am sure you don’t condone such things and you are a christian, that so many atrocities have been committed in the name of judism and christianity that I am sure you also do not condone; then why are you so quick to paint with such a broad brush the muslims? Yes all that you just said has happened and guess what, it was done, and is still being done, by christians and jews as well.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Jesus-Muhammad.htm
http://infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/atrocity.html
checkmate
Ahh.. so are you comparing evil with evil and then suggesting they’re equally acceptable? That’s really quite a statement about your values.
Not to barge in on your argument, but the point being made isn’t that these acts are acceptable, rather that every religion has had barbaric and abhorrent acts committed in the name of said religion. So, just because people have done evil things in the name of religion doesn’t mean that everyone who follows that religion is inherently evil.
Personally, I would argue that the problem is religion in general. There’s nothing wrong with having faith in a higher power, but faith should only ever be a personal thing. I have problem with religion because it typically tries to strike fear into the hearts of believers and non-believers alike, force conversions, oppress people, impose its laws, wage wars, and brand outliers as heretics.
Your argument lacks nuance, IMO. Every religion is, in fact, very different and this includes a religions propensity towards encouraging violence, supremacism and cruelty.
I think you would agree the core teachings of Buddhism are very different than Islam.
I think you would agree that Jesus lived a profoundly different life than Mohammed and the examples these men set influence their followers.
This is not to suggest Buddhists or Christians have always followed their religions teachings to a “T” or even close to it, but only to suggest that socialism by a religion generally influences its constituents behaviors.
It is little wonder Muslims generally hold infidels in disdain, or view their Sharia law as superior to all other laws. On the other hand it is little wonder Jews, for instance, are not pushing their religion down other people’s throats as are Muslims.
Well when it comes down to pinpointing every instance of how people have caused harm acting on behalf of religion, sure you can say my argument lacks nuance, but I think yours lacks perspective. It seems you are willing to forego the atrocities committed by those of Christianity and Buddhism because their core teachings are that of non-violence. But core teachings mean nothing if the people who follow that religion are able to construe and interpret the text to accomplish their agenda. Anyone can do that, and everyone has, which is how people have justified murdering other people and instilling fear in others in the name of their god.
But that’s besides the point.
The focus of my argument is not about defending religion-x and attacking religion-y, it’s about how religion in general is toxic to our advancement as a species. Religion is a construct that refuses to evolve or change in a world that is constantly evolving and changing. The people who desperately try to cling to a world that is falling away from their ideals is what breeds radical conservatism and that in turn breeds religious wars and terrorism.
Now let us not confuse religion with faith. Faith in a higher power is great thing. It moves people through life with a sense of purpose, and I wouldn’t begin to condemn anyone for wanting that. But faith and good will should only be within an individual, not within the fear-mongering teachings of books written by other men.
According to FBI hate crime statistics, 60% of the religious hate crimes conducted in this country were against Jews. 13% were against Islam (Muslim).
Why doesn’t Obama invite one of the Jewish boy’s or girl’s that were truely a victim to the Whitehouse?
The President invited Ahmed to the Whitehouse because it met his propagandist agenda, to passive aggressively scold us that we’re all somehow bigoted, racist, islmaphobes. When in reality that couldn’t be furthest from the truth.
Side note: you’ve got to be pretty naive to believe a 14 year old boy, of any nationality, race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else group we now divide everyone into, wouldn’t consider his ticking “clock” placed in a metal briefcase isn’t a possible bomb (real or fake). Imagine if in a similar event a school did nothing and it actually was a bomb!!
Yet, it’s totally acceptable to suspend a kid for pointing a finger like a gun and going “phew, phew” in school.
You also have to be pretty naive if you believe when Ahmed visits the Whitehouse his “clock” isn’t x-rayed, swabbed, and thoroughly inspected by the Secret Service before it comes within 100 ft of Ahmed’s host (Obama). The media won’t report that fact, only lecture and remind us how ashamed we should be for poor Ahmed….
Exactly! And, this boy is very lucky he lives in the U.S.
“Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, [was] arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 when he was only 17 years old, and sentenced to death by crucifixion and beheading in 2014…
But human rights activists following the case said the teenager was not allowed access to a lawyer. They also said he was tortured and forced to make a false confession and that no evidence was produced to support the charge of illegal possession of firearms…” [Source: Inquisitr]
Now the issue I just presented would have been worth an article and support. But, a 14 year old living in the US who brings a homemade clock to school in a metal briefcase, shouldn’t be investigated or face relatively minor (by comparison) US consequences?
Yeah, we have too many civil liberties in America. We need to start defining success downward.
Should we aim for Saudi Arabia level rights?
Lower.
Josh, you could name any Muslim country (including Saudi Arabia) to make your point, and that IS the point.
Islam is by its very nature – its core tenets – a repressive, freedom hating – totalitarian system. And any true Muslim embraces this and it is incumbent upon Muslims to spread their repressive, freedom hating system upon all.
If you, or anyone else find Saudi Arabia or any other Muslim country to be preferable to our flawed, imperfect but still great country then join the line to emigrate there. It’s a short line and you’ll be first in line no matter which Muslim country you choose.
So you believe that the way to change hearts and minds is to make America into the repressive government they so desperately want? Sorry, I’m not changing my freedom loving heart and mind to turn my country into their dream state. Why are you so eager to do so?
Nope. We give them the same freedom we enjoy and they better start liking it.
Well then, Josh, you should embrace the KKK and Neo-Nazis too, then. For like Islam they too are supremacist totalitarian belief systems.
I am NOT proposing we become more like them. Quite the opposite, but you are apparently unable to understand these finer points.
When the state perpetrates violence and hate against a Jew, no doubt Obama will invite the victim to the white house. Just as he did with Henry Louis Gates. Just as he has with Ahmed.
Remind me again what “violence and hate” the state inflicted on poor Ahmed.
Max, Awfully mean of you to see through Josh’s stupidity. 🙂
This from the Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/22/clock-boy-plans-detour-to-mecca-before-meeting-obama/
“Ahmed Mohamed, known worldwide as “Clock Boy,” still plans to meet President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. But before he does so, he may go on a detour to Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, Ahmed’s father, says that the family is flying to New York to meet with United Nations dignitaries Wednesday. Then, they hope to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Islamic hajj, if the family can get a visa, and finally to return to the U.S. to meet with the president…
… over the last few days, there has been increasing criticism of the Mohamed family. The clock he ‘invented’ was identified as a commercial clock with the casing removed. Talk show host Bill Maher and others suggested it was reasonable for school officials to believe the clock was a bomb hoax, while others have proposed that the incident was a stunt engineered by Ahmed’s father, who has campaigned against Islamophobia…”
We cry over the Ahmed and his arrest in Canada, a rather benign, and likely stemmed from a reasonable concern for school safety. Yet, we ignore the massive genocide of Jews and Christians in the middle east, the outright discrimination against religious minorities in Islamic countries, and the human rights violations that occur there daily. We import people who are rightly freeing toxic societies, but when we fail to take precautions or to call out the trespasses against such a society we are failing the reformist Muslims out of fear of Islamists. So don’t lament Ahmed, but lament the bloggers executed in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the homosexuals hanging by their necks in Iran, and countless other examples. http://dominionstandard.blogspot.ca/2015/10/mohammed-outrage-and-pride-in-west.html