North Texas Muslims unite behind Irving boy

The world met Ahmed Mohamed with little introduction.

The bespectacled youth exploded on computer and cellphone screens via a social media picture — a 14-year-old in a NASA T-shirt, unsmiling and handcuffed. The image went viral along with headlines that a ninth-grader in Irving had been arrested after he took a homemade clock to school and it was thought to be a fake bomb.

The world responded with outrage.

The youth’s Twitter handle, @IStandWithAhmed, began trending on the social media network as people around the world rallied to support him. People questioned whether his name and religion were reasons why he was suspended from high school for three days. Was his clock believed to be a “hoax bomb” because his last name is Mohamed?

“It was such an unfair case,” said Brent Sasley, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who teaches courses on Middle East politics and international relations. “There was a sense that this young boy, student, was treated so unfairly because of his religion.”

Mohamed’s supporters said he was arrested because there is a climate of fear associated with Muslims.

Mohamed’s situation, however, quickly turned positive as President Barack Obama, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and universities reached out to him.

“That is a very positive deal — that Americans saw this kid as an American kid. Just a student,” said Hadi Jawad, a founding member of the North Texas Civil Rights Project. The nonprofit group promotes racial tolerance in North Texas and supported Mohamed during the arrest. “This kid will realize his potential. He is a very lucky kid.”

Jawad said he hopes this case will promote cultural acceptance and shed more light on how minority students are treated within school systems when they end up in a principal’s office.

Mohamed’s case has inspired many activists to push for greater tolerance of races, religions and cultures. Many hope the case will offer a window into the lives of Muslims and thereby dispel stereotypes.

Irving police will review their response to the incident, Police Chief Larry Boyd said Friday, but he also said officers were justified Monday in questioning and handcuffing Mohamed, given the limited information they had.

“I had significant feedback on this, some of which you wouldn’t be able to print,” Boyd said. “It’s clear to me that no matter what we did, there would be those who agreed with it and those who wouldn’t.”

A petition organized by the group Progress Texas was submitted Friday to the Irving school district asking for the reversal of Mohamed’s suspension and an apology. The boy’s family says he will enroll at another school.

‘A Muslim name was uttered’

Many also saw this is an opportunity to remind the world that most Muslims are not radicals or terrorists, but a diverse people of faith who come from different parts of the world.

“He has a service in humanizing Muslims,” said Manochehr Dorraj, a professor of international affairs who teaches courses on Islam and politics at TCU.

Saima Sheikh, a member of the Dallas chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and spokeswoman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, said the arrest was shocking.

“We don’t want to discourage children who are intelligent like that,” she said.

Imam Moujahed M. Bakhach of the the Mediation Institute of North Texas said the incident was “absolutely, in every aspect, racism.” A student with Mohamed’s ability should have been embraced and mentored instead of marginalized, Bakhach said.

“God bless him and his family,” said Bakhach, who made local headlines himself this year when he offered a public prayer at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Some rodeo fans took to social media to blast the Stock Show for allowing a Muslim to pray at the event.

Mohamed made headlines in a society already grappling with race relations, police brutality allegations, campus security and terrorism. A year after riots in Ferguson, Mo., incidents of police handling of minorities in custody have been the topic of debate across the nation. Race relations has also been at the center of debate after the June massacre of nine black worshipers in a Charleston, S.C. church.

Two years after a gunman fatally shot 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary, school safety is still a national concern. The extremist group ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is a source of terror in the Middle East.

Mohamed entered into the national stage with these issues as a backdrop.

“A Muslim name was uttered,” Dorraj said. “Bomb and terrorism took center stage — as what we associate Islam and Muslims with — and that’s sad.”

From among 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, a creative youth like Mohamed usually doesn’t make headlines but instead radicalized minority groups or individuals promoting terror, Dorraj said. Most people don’t think about the vast majority of Muslims who aren’t involved in terror, he said.

“They go peacefully about their lives,” Dorraj said. “They are lawyers, doctors and businessmen. They share the same dream as the rest of the people in this world.”

Jawad agreed: “As a Muslim, I don’t want to be perceived as different. I want to be treated as anybody else.”

Fighting back against Islamophobia

Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the outpouring of support for Mohamed may help ease some of the negative attitudes against Muslims. Still, some people won’t be touched.

“The people who don’t like Muslims and don’t apologize for not liking Muslims, I don’t think it will change anything for them,” Salem said.

However, in a climate of recording police activity on smartphones, there are many who can’t ignore questions raised by Mohamed’s arrest. She said many are saying: “This is just a kid. When are we going to stop?”

Salem said Mohamed has said he wants to use his position to advocate for several causes, including the Muslim community.

“I think he want to use his platform to help show he is just a kid. He is a Muslim. He is African. He is also a young inventor. Nothing is mutually exclusive,” Salem said.

Bob Roberts, pastor of Keller’s NorthWood Church, which has long embraced reaching out to Muslims and those of other faiths, said America has become more and more Xenophobic in recent years.

“In making everyone else the problem we have become the problem,” Robert said.

“We have created a climate of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in America today whether it’s religion, race, or politics. We don’t just have different views anymore, we vilify and demonize those that are not like us.”

He said that the way Mohamed was treated is a perfect example of our hateful behavior.

“Doing stupid and humiliating stuff to others like was done to Mohamed only increases the prevailing view and narrative that America is Islamophobic,” he said.

Roberts agreed that some good could come from the incident, “if it makes people slow down from making fast, rash responses and get some of the facts before jumping to a conclusion.”

Sehar Memon, president of the Muslim Student Association at UT Arlington, said Mohamed is familiar face from the Islamic Center of Irving. When she learned of his arrest, she discussed the issue on her Facebook page. #IstandwithAhmed, created by another UT Arlington student, caught attention quickly.

“I didn’t think it would be internationally recognized,” she said, explaining that things could have gone very badly for Ahmed without the outpouring of support.

“I think it does bring more tolerance between Muslims and non-Muslims,” Memon said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 4:27 PM with the headline "North Texas Muslims unite behind Irving boy."