Steve Jobs, the most famous Arab in the World dies

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The death of Steve Jobs at the age of 56 brings to an end one of the most spectacular lives in corporate and technological history. Jobs’ Apple Inc. almost singlehandedly revolutionized the way we communicate, think and live through an array of wildly innovative and brilliant products like the Mac computer, the iPhones and iPads.

However, one little known fact about Jobs was that he was of partial Arab descent.

Jobs’ biological father is a man named Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian who was a political science graduate student when he met Jobs’ biological mother, an American named Joanne Simpson.

Jobs was later adopted and raised in the San Francisco area by Paul and Clara Jobs.

Reportedly, Jobs himself knew nothing about his biological parents until he was 27, so it’s doubtful that his part-Syrian heritage meant anything to him.

According to Yalibnan.com, Jobs’ biological father, Jandali, was born in Homs, Syria (ironically, one of the key centers of the anti-Assad movement in that country) to a traditional Muslim family.

Jandali emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1950s and eventually became a professor of political science, but he has largely kept his distance from the media.

Jandali’s father in Syria was a self-made millionaire — so perhaps, Jobs’ later astounding success is inherited.

Jandali, who was born in 1931, moved to Beirut, Lebanon in 1949 to study at the American University, where he became part of the flourishing pan-Arabist intellectual movement.

“I was an activist in the student nationalist movement at that time,” he once told reporters.

“We demonstrated for the independence of Algeria and spent three days in prison. I wasn’t a member of any particular party but I was a supporter of Arab unity and Arab independence. The three and a half years I spent at the American University in Beirut were the best days of my life.”

He also explained why he placed his son up for adoption: “The reason he was put up for adoption was because my girlfriend’s father was extremely conservative and wouldn’t let her marry me, and she decided to give him up for adoption. Steve is my biological son, but I didn’t bring him up, and he has a family that adopted him.”

Jandali acknowledged that he while he was not close to his world-famous son, he admired him greatly.

“I think that if my son Steve had been brought up with a Syrian name he would have achieved the same success. He has a brilliant mind. And he didn’t finish his university studies. That’s why I think he would have succeeded whatever his background. I don’t have a close relationship with him. I send him a message on his birthday, but neither of us has made overtures to come closer to the other. I tend to think that if he wants to spend time with me he knows where I am and how to get hold of me.”

Jandali also added that he didn’t think his Arab origin meant much to Jobs.

“I don’t think he pays much attention to these gene-related things,” he said. “People know that he has Syrian origins and that his father is Syrian, that’s all well-known. But he doesn’t pay attention to these things. He has his own distinctive personality and he’s highly-strung. People who are geniuses can do what they want.”

IBT

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29 responses to “Steve Jobs, the most famous Arab in the World dies”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Steve Jobs is one of the examples of what human minds are capable of when nurtured not only with good food, but by love and respect in a free and open atmosphere which allows dreams to become reality.
    Steve was allowed to chase an idea, to learn and grow with it, and then to show the fruition of his concepts to the world with a particular genius of marketing, by which others would immediately realize as being a very useful tool they could use to shape their own dreams … and their lives. All of it a ‘positive’ concept.
     Many humans with good genes are driven into the ground by sad circumstances of time and place, by those who are jealous of them, or by those who have had their own dreams destroyed with warped thinking that does not allow freedom of thought in others.

    1. His invention the MAC is a mainstay for lighting, sound, recording, video in the entertainment industry.. This man and Bill Gates changed the world in a garage…
      He will be missed but his legacy will live on

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Steve Jobs is one of the examples of what human minds are capable of when nurtured not only with good food, but by love and respect in a free and open atmosphere which allows dreams to become reality.
    Steve was allowed to chase an idea, to learn and grow with it, and then to show the fruition of his concepts to the world with a particular genius of marketing, by which others would immediately realize as being a very useful tool they could use to shape their own dreams … and their lives. All of it a ‘positive’ concept.
     Many humans with good genes are driven into the ground by sad circumstances of time and place, by those who are jealous of them, or by those who have had their own dreams destroyed with warped thinking that does not allow freedom of thought in others.

  3.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Steve Jobs is one of the examples of what human minds are capable of when nurtured not only with good food, but by love and respect in a free and open atmosphere which allows dreams to become reality.
    Steve was allowed to chase an idea, to learn and grow with it, and then to show the fruition of his concepts to the world with a particular genius of marketing, by which others would immediately realize as being a very useful tool they could use to shape their own dreams … and their lives. All of it a ‘positive’ concept.
     Many humans with good genes are driven into the ground by sad circumstances of time and place, by those who are jealous of them, or by those who have had their own dreams destroyed with warped thinking that does not allow freedom of thought in others.

    1. His invention the MAC is a mainstay for lighting, sound, recording, video in the entertainment industry.. This man and Bill Gates changed the world in a garage…
      He will be missed but his legacy will live on

  4.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Steve Jobs is one of the examples of what human minds are capable of when nurtured not only with good food, but by love and respect in a free and open atmosphere which allows dreams to become reality.
    Steve was allowed to chase an idea, to learn and grow with it, and then to show the fruition of his concepts to the world with a particular genius of marketing, by which others would immediately realize as being a very useful tool they could use to shape their own dreams … and their lives. All of it a ‘positive’ concept.
     Many humans with good genes are driven into the ground by sad circumstances of time and place, by those who are jealous of them, or by those who have had their own dreams destroyed with warped thinking that does not allow freedom of thought in others.

  5. lebster Avatar

    Nice Hijack …What Arab??  He’s 50% of Arab decent…. raised by Armenians… 100% American. I love it how people in the Arab world like to Arabasize someone famous to cover the crap we have over in the middle east.

    1. Hannibal Avatar

      lol

  6.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Nice Hijack …What Arab??  He’s 50% of Arab decent…. raised by Armenians… 100% American. I love it how people in the Arab world like to Arabasize someone famous to cover the crap we have over in the middle east.

  7. LEBANON101 Avatar
    LEBANON101

    he is proof that arabs who dont like under oppressive regimes can prosper. biologically he is arab but mentally he is western

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    he is proof that arabs who dont like under oppressive regimes can prosper. biologically he is arab but mentally he is western

  9.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    he is proof that arabs who dont like under oppressive regimes can prosper. biologically he is arab but mentally he is western

  10. Why do you attribute him something he never said nor made him proud? Is it because he is dead and can’t reply ? Please have some credibility in order for us to continue reading your posts. You don’t need such titles to attract readers like other cheap websites.

  11. MeYosemite Avatar
    MeYosemite

    Is Arab a race or a culture or a language? That has been the most confusing thing. For example I can understad that Judaism is a religion and semetism is a race. But what is Arab for a guy like Steve Jobs should mean?

    I think clarifying this definition at a large scale can help the Lebanese identity. I was born in Lebanon, I can associate with the Lebanese culture. Would that makes me an Arab or a Lebanese? would it require my skin color and religion to identify if I am an arab or not?

    I learn through history that the invention of this word was a Political term and mechanism to avoid the annexing of lebanon to turkey back in the early part of the century. if it is a political term, perhaps it has expired?

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Maybe I can help a little 😉
        Lebanese were Persians – the ones who couldn’t stand smelly Ayatollas so they moved to Mt. Lebanon, found wood to make fires and outhouses, and changed to western-style clothing because the mountains are lovely and cool.
        Arabs were Bedouin sand-campers who wore sheets to allow the blowing sand to fall out and to make toileting easier, and they kept camels so they would have fire-making material at the end of the day.
        Some seemed to prefer one style or the other after the Romans – in both short skirts and sheets – discovered the place, which mixed them all up – a little – but there’s the basic differences.
        The Armenians were going to attack Lebanon, but only got part-way when word arrived that since their whole army had  joined the expedition, Turks were attacking, and they had to go back home to defend their rocks – dragging a few people they ran across along the way with them. Eventually Turkey did it again, of course. I guess Armenian rocks were better than Turkish rocks … but nothing was as good as Lebanese Cedar, and EVERY army eventually took a chance to cut some wood there. So … Over the centuries, clothing styles got a little mixed.
        Can’t tell by skin colour … some of the cutest Lebanese ladies are blonde and blue-eyed … a hang-over I think from the Romans dragging Northern European women home … or perhaps the favorites of the Arabic slave trading. Hmmm …
        Lebanese Arabic is not the same as Arab Arabic … maybe you can tell in that way which you are?
      Oh well … sorry if I can’t help a lot. But I guess it’s all in the mind by this time.

      1. Sebouh80 Avatar

        To 5thDrawer,

        Apparently Steve Jobbs spoke Armenian fluently.

        Check this out.
        http://www.tert.am/en/news/2011/10/06/jobsarmenian/

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Thanks Sebouh. And even then there would be some Armenian saying he didn’t have the ‘correct’ accent. 🙂
          But it’s amazing how everyone is trying to claim a piece of him, isn’t it?
          I think he was beyond all of that crap …

      2. MeYosemite Avatar
        MeYosemite

        Thanks. I guess we are on same page. What is the likely percent of Lebanese do not feel associated being Arab besides speaking the language?

      3. Ryan1990 Avatar

        How disgusting you are when describing Arabs origins! You are full of hatred and lies. Since when Lebanese were Persians you Ignorant !!!  

        Lebanese are those people who settled in Mount Lebanon, they were Arabs indeed!  And as a part of the Ghasasinah.
        The Ghassanids (al-Ghasasinah, also Banu Ghassan “Sons of Ghassan”) were Arab Christians that emigrated in the year 250 AD from Yemen to the Hauran (Houran), in southern Syria (There was no Lebanon as a separate entity). The term Ghassan refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids, and is the name of a spring of water in the Hauran. The Ghassanid emigration has been passed down in the rich oral tradition of southernSyria. It is said that the Ghassanids came from the city of Ma’rib in Yemen. 

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          Oh Tsk Ryan … no sense of humour I see. 😉 Well … I was only bringing some 3000 years of history into the usual ‘text-book’ sized paragraph. 🙂 Go back far enough and you will find they all came from Africa – or, at least, the ones who evolved successfully. To that point. 🙂
            ‘Peoples’ were shaped by their geographical misfortunes because they sort of keep walking around and looking for something better … but I can’t hate them for that, I guess. Personally, however, I wouldn’t stay in a sand-pile unless it was part of a good beach with bikinis. 🙂
          For sure, if it was 250 AD, then they were Jewish, Christians or Romans. The ‘other’ hadn’t been invented yet. And Ra was definitely on the way out …

  12.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Is Arab a race or a culture or a language? That has been the most confusing thing. For example I can understad that Judaism is a religion and semetism is a race. But what is Arab for a guy like Steve Jobs should mean?

    I think clarifying this definition at a large scale can help the Lebanese identity. I was born in Lebanon, I can associate with the Lebanese culture. Would that makes me an Arab or a Lebanese? would it require my skin color and religion to identify if I am an arab or not?

    I learn through history that the invention of this word was a Political term and mechanism to avoid the annexing of lebanon to turkey back in the early part of the century. if it is a political term, perhaps it has expired?

    1.  Avatar
      Anonymous

      Maybe I can help a little 😉
        Lebanese were Persians – the ones who couldn’t stand smelly Ayatollas so they moved to Mt. Lebanon, found wood to make fires and outhouses, and changed to western-style clothing because the mountains are lovely and cool.
        Arabs were Bedouin sand-campers who wore sheets to allow the blowing sand to fall out and to make toileting easier, and they kept camels so they would have fire-making material at the end of the day.
        Some seemed to prefer one style or the other after the Romans – in both short skirts and sheets – discovered the place, which mixed them all up – a little – but there’s the basic differences.
        The Armenians were going to attack Lebanon, but only got part-way when word arrived that since their whole army had  joined the expedition, Turks were attacking, and they had to go back home to defend their rocks – dragging a few people they ran across along the way with them. Eventually Turkey did it again, of course. I guess Armenian rocks were better than Turkish rocks … but nothing was as good as Lebanese Cedar, and EVERY army eventually took a chance to cut some wood there. So … Over the centuries, clothing styles got a little mixed.
        Can’t tell by skin colour … some of the cutest Lebanese ladies are blonde and blue-eyed … a hang-over I think from the Romans dragging Northern European women home … or perhaps the favorites of the Arabic slave trading. Hmmm …
        Lebanese Arabic is not the same as Arab Arabic … maybe you can tell in that way which you are?
      Oh well … sorry if I can’t help a lot. I guess it’s all in the mind by this time.

      1.  Avatar
        Anonymous

        To 5thDrawer,

        Apparently Steve Jobbs spoke Armenian fluently.

        Check this out.
        http://www.tert.am/en/news/2011/10/06/jobsarmenian/

        1.  Avatar
          Anonymous

          Thanks Sebouh. And even then there would be some Armenian saying he didn’t have the ‘correct’ accent. 🙂
          But it’s amazing how everyone is trying to claim a piece of him, isn’t it?
          I think he was beyond all of that crap …

      2.  Avatar
        Anonymous

        Thanks. I guess we are on same page. What is the likely percent of Lebanese do not feel associated being Arab besides speaking the language?

      3.  Avatar

        How disgusting you are when describing Arabs origins! You are full of hatred and lies. Since when Lebanese were Persians you Ignorant !!!  

        Lebanese are those people who settled in Mount Lebanon, they were Arabs indeed!  And as a part of the Ghasasinah.
        The Ghassanids (al-Ghasasinah, also Banu Ghassan “Sons of Ghassan”) were Arab Christians that emigrated in the year 250 AD from Yemen to the Hauran (Houran), in southern Syria (There was no Lebanon as a separate entity). The term Ghassan refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids, and is the name of a spring of water in the Hauran. The Ghassanid emigration has been passed down in the rich oral tradition of southernSyria. It is said that the Ghassanids came from the city of Ma’rib in Yemen. 

        1.  Avatar

          Oh Tsk Ryan … no sense of humour I see. 😉 Well … I was only bringing some 3000 years of history into the usual ‘text-book’ sized paragraph. 🙂 Go back far enough and you will find they all came from Africa – or, at least, the ones who evolved successfully. To that point. 🙂
            ‘Peoples’ were shaped by their geographical misfortunes because they sort of keep walking around and looking for something better … but I can’t hate them for that, I guess. Personally, however, I wouldn’t stay in a sand-pile unless it was part of a good beach with bikinis. 🙂

  13.  Avatar

    Spiritual
    mind.

    The
    new

    summer
    is a

    splendid
    idea

    that
    appears

    in
    the morning

    with
    a delicate

    thought.

    Francesco
    Sinibaldi

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