Irving, Texas’s (in)famous “clock boy,” Ahmed Mohamed, has returned to the Lone Star State after a nine-month sojourn to Qatar with, he says, “a deeper appreciation for his religion and a thicker skin.”
Ahmed made international headlines last year when he was placed in handcuffs at his school after revealing a homemade clock that looked like a bomb.
That incident, The Dallas Morning News says, caused “a national uproar began about the treatment of Muslims in the U.S.”
Ahmed wants to use the clock episode to “teach others”:
“I want to help change Texas for a better state, and I hope that not just for Texas, but the entire world. People sometimes don’t want to admit their mistakes, and sometimes the best thing to do is to help them change.”
While he’s in the U.S., he plans to take up invitations to visit well-known companies that followed in the wake of his arrest, even if he gets some negative attention along the way.
He will get a chance to thank some social media giants in person later this summer when he visits Facebook and Twitter headquarters. He has an offer for an internship at Twitter.
These days, Ahmed said, if he sees a negative comment on social media, he brushes it off.
“It’s very difficult for me to read it, so I just ignore it and I just walk past it,” Ahmed said. “Sometimes it gets to me, but I just choose to not let it get to me.”
MORE: ‘Clock Boy’s’ family wants $15 million in damages
Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, said he was happy to see a wide spectrum of support with the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed. He said the negativity is just one of life’s tests for his son.
“You can’t get honey without the sting of the bee,” Mohamed said. “That is why God changed everything to tell him that the road is open for you, so show us your invention. Show us because we know what you are going through.”
Qatar’s education incorporates learning the Quran and the history of Islam, which Ahmed said he enjoyed. He also visited Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, in Saudi Arabia with his family.
“I felt good being able to learn my religion because it wasn’t an opportunity I had here in the U.S.,” Ahmed said, citing costs and difficulty finding a private teacher. “It was easier because your religion was basically embedded inside the country.”
In the back of the White House!! pic.twitter.com/FVZ4AKYgVC
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) October 29, 2015
He’ll certainly be able to afford that private teacher if his family’s $15 million lawsuit pans out, that’s for sure.
Ahmed plans to attend MIT to study physics and electrical engineering. He says he wants “to patent his inventions involving electricity and friction.”
MORE: ‘Clock Boy’s’ father deals in 9/11 conspiracies
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