Ahmed was just 14 years old however he was intelligent as compared to the other kids of his age. He was a boy with creative mind. He had great interest in Science and thus instead of wasting his time in useless activities, He loved spending time in designing and creating things.
He was very happy as he had built a homemade clock all by himself. He was very enthusiastic about his accomplishment. He wanted to prove his worth to the world. Thus in anticipation of reward in the form of praise and appreciation; he took his clock to the school, a place where creativity and hard work is appreciated. However one of the teacher, upon seeing, thought it resembled a hoax bomb. Considering his clock a threat, school administration called police. Thus his day turned into a nightmare when he was handcuffed and sent to a juvenile detention for interrogation.
Although he was later released by authorities as the situation was clearly misjudged by them. However the boy felt devastated for being misunderstood.
It must be noted that instead of offering an apology for misjudging him, school administration suspended him for three days.
This sad incident which took place in Irving, Texas caused great hue and cry over the internet. Where people criticized school administration and Police for misjudging the situation, they also showed support to Muslim boy. Most people believed that the boy was targeted because of his religion.
It is no secret that negative sentiments, regarding Muslims, flourished in the West after 9/11. Muslims are considered terrorists, an imminent threat to their society. Thus Islamophobia exists in the West.
However another important aspect of the incident, which should be acknowledged, is that a large number of people including non-Muslims stood up for Ahmed. They realized the plague of prejudice and stereotyping in this case. By discussing it openly, they unveiled the bitter truth that there is no equality in society and people are judged on the basis of their religion and color of skin. People standing up for an innocent boy and raising voice against discrimination shows that there are good people everywhere in the world. However injustice prevails only when they watch it silently without taking any stand against it.