Salem Furrha of @thefurrhafamily
Amid these sorrowful times, wonderful things have come to the surface during the COVID era.
Odds are, if you’re an Arab-American millenial you know Salem Furrha, “The Furrha Dad” of Tiktok‘s @TheFurrhaFamily. Active on Tiktok and Instagram, Furrha and co. have spread joy from their home in California–from a safe, social distance, of course.
Born to a Muslim, Palestinian family, Salem Furrha came to the United States in 1966. Originally from Ramoun in the south side of Palestine, next to Ramallah, Salem’s father, an engineer, migrated from Kuwait to the U.S. when Salem was very young. He was raised in Ann Arbor Michigan as an Arab-American.
After earning his Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial Engineering from Western Michigan University, Furrha opened up a coffee shop. A true entrepreneur, Furrha brought the new “cappuccino bar” to the east coast in Eastern Michigan. He later went into real estate.
Coach Furrha proudly coaches high school football, as he has done for the past 25 years.
How the Furrha Family Became “@TheFurrhaFamily“
The TikTok Dad and his family have recently captured the hearts of Arab American fans from coast to coast, and neighboring Canada, of course. American families and Middle Eastern fans alike reach out from all over the world.
“During COVID,” started Furrha, “sitting at home bored, you find something to do. Everyone’s in the house together, my daughter was playing around with TikTok. After a while, one of her videos went viral.
It looked like fun, so we did a family one for kicks. It blew up from there. People wanted more.”
“You do things on Arab culture” he continued, “some Arab skits—we keep it mostly normal, family skits. We have fun, we make people laugh.”
Furrha’s reach has known no bounds. With over 2.7 million followers they receive messages daily: “Thank you for making my day!” “You guys make me laugh”. For Furrha, these are reminders of just how much his family’s become a sensation on a day to day basis.
“It reminds me of coaching, being a good person, athlete, the necessities of life. If you make someone laugh that day, you did something good in the world. Especially in this time when people are having a rough time.”
“I made a family account, they all have a personal one. It’s nice to show people what it’s like to really be Muslim Arabs, it shows a different side of how a muslim arab family lives on a day to day basis, and teach them not to listen to the media.”
