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.
All Muslims financially and physically capable of doing so are expected to undertake the hajj at least once in their life.
According to the Dallas Morning News, both of Ahmed’s siblings have been pulled out of the Irving Independent School District, with plans to place the entire family into a new school when they return home. Ahmed had already been withdrawn from his school, MacArthur High School.
“These kids aren’t going to be happy there,” Mohamed told the press.
It’s not clear which international dignitaries are so eager to meet Ahmed, or what countries they represent. It’s also not clear where the Mohameds plan to have their children attend school once the lengthy vacation is over.
Last week, many expressed outrage after Ahmed was arrested at school for bringing a disassembled clock to school that police thought may have been a “hoax bomb.” Obama praised his “cool clock” and invited him to the White House, he received a lavish set of gifts from Microsoft, and he was brought to California by Google to visit the company’s science fair.
But 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. (RELATED: Professor Calls Ahmed Mohamed’s Clock A ‘Fraud’)
Despite the tremendous outpouring of public support for Ahmed from the tech community and many politicians, his father claims the period has been extremely stressful. According to Daily Mail, Mohamed says his son hasn’t been sleeping or eating right.
“It’s torn the family and makes us very confused,” he said.
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