Daily Times

Imagine for a moment that Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist renowned the world over for his Theory of General Relativity, was not born in Ulm, Germany during the second Reich but instead was born in Pakistan as a Muslim after 1947. What would have happened to him? How would we have treated the distinguished scholar? Would we have revered him or hated him?
To be a true Pakistani, before talking about his scientific research and way before looking into his academic credentials,which led to his international fame, we will have wanted to know the details about his faith. Did he believe in Sunni Islam or not? If he did, then which kind: Deobandi or Barelvi? If Beralvi, did he have a pir (a spiritual teacher) or not? And if Deobandi, did he regularly attend the annual congregation of the TableeghiJamaat in Raiwnd?
God forbid, if he belonged to a minority sect or religion, his reputation in the country of his origin would have been doomed. Any cleric from a small rural mosque with minimal education in religion and no education in science would have lambasted the Nobel Laureate in his Friday address, challenging the faith of Albert Einstein, calling him a kaafir (infidel). If the priest dramatised his speech enough to get media coverage, which is not very difficult nowadays, we may have denounced the citizenship of the world-renowned theoretical physicist. Sure, it could only be done after due process, which includes dissecting the details of his beliefs on evening talk shows. In these programmes, again, no one would discuss his formula for mass energy equivalence (E=mc2) since neither the host nor his guests know anything about this. Instead, everyone would focus on the importance of the correct version of Sunni faith in order to be successful in this world and to be blessed in the world hereafter. We might also have talked about how he should correctly fold his hands together while praying, right on top of the left, the size of his beard and the importance of shaving his mustache.
If Mr Einstein were not that fortunate and his faith not penetrated as the subject of morning broadcast discussion, then, trust me, even God could not save Albert from the wrath of Pakistanis. People would call him a psycho in front of the camera and on public platforms, children remembering him as an infidel and a criminal, politicians distancing themselves from him as if he had caught leprosy.
Someone might go a step farther and say his whole life was cursed when he got married to MelivaMaric, his first wife, against the wishes of his mother. With a moral decree in our hands, we would proclaim: making one’s mother unhappy, first, is a sin that can never be forgotten or forgiven and, second, it will bring sorrow leading to depression in one’s life no matter how successful one is considered to be by everyone else. Was it possible for the marriage to last without the blessings of the elders and the family? Could that couple ever stay happy? Of course not; their partnership had to end sooner or later. When your mother is not on your side, no one, including God, is not on your side. Afflicted spiritually, that is why Einstein and Meliva split in 1914 and finally divorced in 1919.
Adding further insult to injury, we would have announced that Einstein fathered a ‘love child’ with her in 1901, two years before he got married, an act for which he could have received hundreds of lashes as punishment had he been caught by the ‘moral police’ in an Islamic country under sharia law.Another person would have jumped in to say that, irrespective of his fame, God punished Einstein big time. His son, Eduard Einstein, had to be placed in a psychiatric facility for mental instability, a clear sign of His anger. “I would rather be close to God, have a normal child and be content with life than to be Einstein,” he would continue.
You can tell how desperate Einstein was through his own words: “I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves.” No one with the right set of beliefs, a person who knows he is going to theheavens, would say such a thing – we all agree on that, right? But a person who still cannot see with his eyes open in the daylight would fall to this level of scepticism.
Remember, Einstein had to immigrate to the US from Germany when Adolf Hitler in1933, after coming into power, started a campaign against ‘Jewish science’. We may have launched our own programmes and named them ‘Ahmedi science’, ‘Shia science’ or an ‘apostate science’. Although the German tyrant offered 20,000 marks for the assassination of the scientist, that is not our style anymore. We believe in doing it for free. What kind of paradise can be bought with money? Did MumtazQadri want to get paid for killing Governor SalmaanTaseer? Surely not.
On the brighter side, we all know that Einstein was called the ‘Man of the century’ by Time magazine. Sure enough, we all believe this was because of his Jewish credentials. Would he have received the same honour if he were from Pakistan and was a born Sunni? I do not think so. Why? The west hates Muslims, we agree on that right? The only type of Muslim who is acceptable to them nowadays is an Islamic apologist, a person who calls himself a Muslim but resents everything about Islam. I guess, based on that yardstick, there is still a little chance that Einstein would have gotten the nomination. After all,Dr Abdul Salam, for his Ahmedi beliefs and not because of his work, was awarded with the Nobel Prize. The only question for Mr Einstein is if he would be able to escape MumtazQadri or Ghazi Illumddin to be the man of the century.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com