Subhanallah, who could imagine that this bare-footed, shy, introverted young boy will grow up to save the world as a team with his future wife finding the covid vaccine? Let us find out his amazing story!
Dr. Uğur Şahin was born in Iskenderun, a small town in the South of Turkey near the Syrian border., where he spent the first 4 years of his life.
As Turkey started to go through a period of hyper-inflation which made life very difficult, his family was looking for a better life. They decided to move to West Germany in 1969 as his father found work at the Ford factory in the city of Cologne. The salary wasn’t high, but the parents prioritized educating and developing their children above all!
This is where the young Ugur later graduated with a medical degree, after working in a lab at only the age of 20. Masha’Allah, it took this bright mind only 3 years to finish his Masters and Phd at the relatively young age of 27!
Remarkably, when he got married to his immunologist wife Dr Özlem Türeci (daughter of an immigrant from Istanbul), they drove back to their lab immediately after the wedding concluded! (Now that’s true love…….. for knowledge! 🙂 )
With such dedication, they developed more than 70+ patents dealing with cancer diagnosis, treatment, and virology, until their company BioNTech became worth 20 billion! His wife also found a non-profit organization for cancer immunotherapy. So when the German government wanted to find a vaccine for Covid, who would they approach? Yes, a Turkish Muslim immigrant couple!!
I gift this story today to all the immigrants who feel they are discriminated against and have difficulty in making a living in their new country. The ones who feel they are challenged every day because of their faith or skin colour or poverty. And all the Muslims around the world who may come from small towns and economically challenged areas!
Allah will send you several opportunities in your life. You just have to observe and look, but most importantly, develop yourself so that you are fully qualified when the opportunities come to your way.
And to all the parents out there, inspire your children, because you never know if your son or daughter is the next Dr. Uğur or Dr Ozlem. May Allah bless our generation and the next to carry the Ummah high!
— Taken from Dr. Waleed Hakeem – The Travelling Imam