MELBOURNE: “Alfred Nobel stipulated that no distinction of race or colour will determine who received of His generosity. On this occasion, let me say this to those, whom God has given His bounty. Let us strive to provide equal opportunities to all so that they can engage in the creation of physics and science for the benefit of all mankind.”
Above is an excerpt from Dr Abdus Salam’s speech, which he delivered at Stockholm about 33 years ago, on the occasion of the Nobel prize distribution ceremony. The spirit of the message embodies the universal spirit of equality and justice.
Dr Salam, whose birth anniversary passed by quietly on January 29, dreamt of a world without prejudice. Some people live on through their extraordinary work and contribution towards the good of mankind. Dr Salam was one such soul. He was lucky and unlucky at the same time. Lucky because God created him with amazing mental abilities and drove him towards a glorious destiny. If you look at his life, it seems as if he was chosen to be what he turned out to be. A man who hailed from a lower middle-class family, for whom joining the Indian Railways could have been a dream come true, scaled heights very few did, yet he was an unlucky fellow too. Isn’t it intriguing to use the word unlucky for someone who has left indelible marks on the face of human knowledge? I would say he was unlucky because he belonged to a community with controversial religious beliefs; because he was born to a poor man; because the country he opted to be a citizen of, showed more concern for his inherited religious beliefs than his intelligence. He was unlucky because he kept his faith in science and decided to sow the seeds of knowledge in the infertile soil of the Muslim world. He was unlucky that he studied physics and mathematics to excel in; had he learnt bigotry and sycophancy, he would have had millions of lovers and followers in his country. He definitely made some ‘wrong’ choices; therefore, he is considered a nobody in his own homeland.
Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2013.
