Last month, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and creator of the iPod, passed away. While I personally owe a lot to Steve Jobs for teaching my generation to dare to dream, I think there is something both he and Barack Obama have in common that ties them back to the Islamic faith.
Both of their fathers were raised Muslims. Both of their fathers left their sons at infancy. And both of their fathers are tragic, not-to-be imitated people. Neither Barack Obama or Steve Jobs by the way, ever practiced Islam.
I bring this point up because there is another person in Islamic history who grew up much in the way Barack and Steve did without a father. And his name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah, the prophet of Islam (peace be upon him).
Like Obama and Jobs, the prophet had a father figure present in his life. Muhammad was raised by his mother, grandfather, and uncle. Obama was raised by mother and grandparents. Jobs was adopted as a baby boy by hardworking lower-middle class parents who struggled to make ends meet. Like the prophet (peace be upon him), Jobs had no formal secondary education. He dropped out of school when he found out it was crippling his parents’ meager finances.
But that’s where the similarities end. Muhammad was the prophet of God, and never looked upon drugs, counter-culture, or Hare Krishna temples for sustenance. He found his strength in being a leader in doing the right thing: preaching morality to a society woefully in need of it.
But on the other end, Muhammad (pbuh) would end up being a father to us all in one way: from his lessons and life all of Muslim fathers seek glimpses to emulate in their daily lives, and teach their children. Unfortunately, neither Jobs nor Obama benefited from that; their fathers belonged a generation of Muslims steeped in violence and social upheaval. And when they became aware of who their biological fathers were in actuality, they did not choose to emulate them or what they might have learned from their fathers in any form.
But, strikingly, neither Barack nor Steve held any grudge against Islam or the Muslim societies that reared their fathers. In fact, at least one of them, the current President of the United States, would seek out the Islamic world while living in it–not in order to see if he might fit into the Ummah, but instead to learn how to respect it. And I can tell you personally: that is how the best leaders start.
Steve Jobs would inspire me and many others in 2005 when, at Stanford, he gave a speech about how to be your own person. “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish,” he admonished the graduates; words that perhaps Rumi might say. Jobs inspired and influenced an entire generation–my generation–to live by our own rules (within reason), and to challenge monopolistic thinking in order to achieve great things.
Barack Obama would break the race barrier, and give me hope that even though I still can’t balance a checkbook (don’t ask), that maybe one day my brand of original thinking will land me too, in the White House. He has also saved our country from one unmitigated disaster after another, and is an amazing father himself.
And so, how would the world be different today had Barack Obama and Steve Jobs been raised by their biological fathers, both of whom were born and raised Muslims? Well, if their lives without their sons is any clue: much less vibrant and exciting than life is today.
There is a lesson in that though, for Muslim parents: that to say one is a Muslim is different than to practice good parenting. As a son of two excellent Muslim parents, I would know. Ethics, leadership, responsibility and moral duty are values universal to all good fathers. Abu’s of the world: teach them well, so that the next time that destiny gives the son of a Muslim the chance of something great, that they achieve it. As a Muslim.
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