Daily Times

On November 21, 1996, with the death of Dr Abdus Salam, not only did we lose Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate, a physicist and a mathematician par excellence but also a man whose passion and deep love for the Quran and Pakistan were manifested in both his words and deeds. The spirit of his legacy is still alive and cherished in many parts of the world as the institutions he established continue to benefit millions of human beings. Salam was a multidimensional individual and so is his legacy. His scientific contributions remain influential even today as his contribution and prediction about the Higgs-Boson particle — a discovery that earned the Nobel prize for physics this year — is well recognised by scientists. However, his achievements in fields other than the sciences and sometimes in the realms considered in conflict with science are equally fascinating and motivating. We must remember this role model and give him a place we were unable to during his lifetime.

Most of us are aware of the traditional conflict between faith and reason, religion and science. These streams are seen as opposing each other, sometimes deemed fatal to each other’s growth. Salam successfully busted this myth and established reconciliation between the two by achieving heights of excellence in Mathematics and Physics while retaining deep connections with faith and religion. For him, the Holy Quran and his firm belief in Allah were his guiding principles for widening his vision of scientific inquiry. Salam understood the meanings of the Holy Quran and found it to be a great source of guidance and motivation for his scientific work. He made huge efforts to introduce to the world the intellectual side of the Holy Quran. He tried to make people aware that the Quran was not a book in conflict with reason but one that is truly compatible with reason, knowledge and scientific thinking.

Salam stated many a time, and proved through his works, that he derived motivation for scientific achievement by reading and contemplating on the verses of the Holy Quran. He once stated, “The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah’s created laws of nature.” During his acceptance speech for the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, for his work on the unification of weak electromagnetic forces, Salam quoted verses from the holy book.

The scientific achievements of Dr Salam are well known and well acknowledged around the world as he remains one of the most influential physicists even today; accounts of these can be found in books, articles and even on the internet. Some aspects of his equally enlightening non-scientist life were shared by his family members and friends in a symposium that I organised at the Imperial College, London in March this year, revealing astonishing facts that can serve as a source of motivation for every Pakistani.

Salam’s younger brother, Abdul Rasheed, informed that Salam had a firm belief in the unity of Allah and his work on unification of weak electromagnetic forces derived inspiration from belief in the one-ness of God. Rasheed further told the audience that, during his days in Italy, where he was director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, an institution created by him for the benefit of scientists from developing countries, Salam personally managed to get copies of the Holy Quran translated into the Italian language for circulation among friends and colleagues; he also presented a copy to the Pope of that time. Salam’s firm belief in the existence of an unseen God helped him in finding answers on unseen particles purely on the basis of mathematical calculations. He was sure about the existence of the Higgs-Boson particle on the basis of his mathematical findings and, 35 years after his experiments, existence of this particle was proved in 2012.

He was passionate about Pakistan and, besides establishing most of the scientific institutions still present in his country, he made efforts to arrange scholarships for Pakistani scientists in the world’s leading academic institutions — he helped more than 500 Pakistani scientists attain scholarships for higher education. Rasheed informed us that many people probably do not know the fact that Salam preferred to retain his Pakistani nationality and green passport over the knighthood that was offered to him because British citizenship was one of the conditions to qualify for knighthood. He loved to travel on his green passport despite difficulties he sometimes faced at entry points in different airports. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, H E Wajid Shamsul Hasan, who had the opportunity to see Salam several times during his last days, shared that whenever he visited him, Salam cried for Pakistan and always wanted the assurance to be buried in the soil of Pakistan.

Salam was a big philanthropist too. His son, Ahmed Salam, remembers his efforts for not only setting up schools for the education of Pakistani children but also the fact that he had set up a voluntary system in London to help children with Mathematics and Physics. Free buses were even arranged to bring children to the Imperial College for free coaching in these subjects as it was there, at the Imperial College in London that Salam spent most of his academic life as founder of the theoretical physics group. One enters the Physics department in this world leading institution and the first thing that meets the eye is a portrait of Dr Abdus Salam decorating the wall of fame with two other Nobel laureates in Physics. This view makes one really proud of our heritage. Salam believed in taking pride in his heritage and compiled a book on the contribution of Muslim scientists to modern science.

Salam is no longer physically present in this world but his living legacy, in the form of what he achieved in the scientific and non-scientific spheres, and the institutions that he created in Pakistan and the world over, place him among the best role models to emerge from Pakistan. Today, if we have to break from the vicious circle of low achievements in education, knowledge and discovery, combined with internal conflict and the practice of killing each other, we have to look into the meanings of the Quran and remember the verses that emphasise knowledge, care and the wellbeing of humanity. Salam is an example of one who benefited from the guidance in the Holy Quran. If he could excel in science through the wisdom of the Quran, then why can we not as well?

The writer is an information group officer and former head of press section at the Pakistan High Commission, London