Obama invites the Texas teen clock-maker to the White House

Ahmed Mohamed has also been invited to visit Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg.

The 14-year-old boy who was arrested after authorities at his school mistook a clock he had built for a bomb has been invited to visit the White House by none other than President Obama himself.

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

— President Obama (@POTUS44) September 16, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed hit the headlines after he brought the homemade clock to MacArthur high school in Irving, Texas, on Monday to show one of his teachers. One teacher raised concerns that it looked like a bomb.

Image of device from Irving PD. @IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/2MmKaeF6I0

— Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi (@naheedrajwani) September 16, 2015

Later that day, he was arrested and led away in handcuffs before being interrogated by five police officers. He was also suspended from school for three days.

Ahmed told reporters: “I built the clock to impress my teacher, but when I showed it to her she thought it was a threat to her. It was really sad that she took a wrong impression of it.”

Ahmed has also said that he "felt like a terrorist".

The incident has sparked debate over Islamophobia in America, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations saying the incident is typical of the negative attitudes toward Muslims in Irving.

"Because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11th, I think my son got mistreated," Mohamed's father told The Dallas Morning News.

Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe—they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building. https://t.co/ywrlHUw3g1

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2015

The White House said Ahmed was invited to participate in an astronomy night next month. And the teen also received an invitation to visit Facebook HQ from Mark Zuckerberg. Writing on his own Facebook page, Zuckerberg said:

"Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed."