A long while ago, I was a Physics major. This was a default setting. My father, an electrical engineer, expected something similar; as did I. In college, we had some inspirational teachers. Bashir Tahir, our Math teacher for example, was particularly somnambulant to all appearances but had a wicked sharp sprint. I know this because he would sleep-walk as close as possible to our very illegal Cricket-on-the-Field proceedings and then bolt at us. His hope was to catch us, make us give up our Student I.D. and then fix up a fine from the Registrar.
Prof. Naseer taught me Physics. We would both get to the college really early in the morning. And despite the healthy fear/loathing inherent in the student/teacher relationship in Desh, we would talk over chai. Usually about Quantum Physics. I was completely enamored with it. I would read biographies of Einstein and Bohr to understand something. Prof. Naseer would often recommend that I also read actual journals/books dealing with quantum physics. I told him that I had tried my best to find secondary material (materials outside of our really, really, and I mean really, bad Physics textbook) but had come up with very little. Here, he said, write to Dr. Abdus Salam.
I knew of him but I didn't know of him. If that makes any sense. I wrote a simple letter, basically stating that I was taking this class which had some Quantum Physics material and it was really interesting and I would like to learn more. I mailed it to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. Some time went by. I cannot tell you how much. One day, I came home to a box bearing lots of stamps and obvious signs of tampering. It contained a number of publications from the Center, some papers authored by Dr. Abdus Salam, and a few books. There was a letter. It wished me luck in my pursuit of studies. It offered me more help and guidance, should I need it. It welcomed me with a "Dear Mr." I remember that "Mr." I remember, vividly, the energy I received from that letter, from that package. Some one far, far away, had cared to respond. I remain enthralled by his kindness.
I learned that he came from the same part of southern Punjab as my father. Sahiwal. I wrote him a letter back, telling him of my discovery. And thanking him. I never heard back. I doubt that my letter reached him. I knew that he was considered an outcast to the state of Pakistan.
Some good people are making a documentary on Dr. Abdus Salam - the only Nobel Laureate from Pakistan. They are raising money for it. I urge you to give. His is a story that needs told.
"In 1974, when the Parliament of Pakistan declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims, he left Pakistan for London in protest" earlier public policy decisions have resulted in pakistan's horrendous contemporary condition
Probably a well known story: "Dr Salam then went to India where he was received with great fanfare. He had gone there to simply meet his primary school mathematics teacher who was still alive. When the two met, Dr Salam took off his Nobel medal and put it around the neck of his teacher." From http://pakistaniat.com/2006/11/22/abdus-salam-physics/
"I learned that he came from the same part of southern Punjab as my father. Sahiwal." It's a small world :) I wonder, if I had forgotten that he was from Sahiwal, or simply just didn't know. Munir Niazi and Tariq Aziz are the first people that I think of when I think of famous people from/associated with Sahiwal.
Salman: I would think first and last of Mushtaq Ahmed! Munir Niazi, eh? I love this couplet of his: "aadat hi banaa lee hai tumne to Munir apnee / Jis sheher mein bhi rehna, uktaaye hue rehna" Had no idea he was from Sahiwal...
I am rather flabbergasted that the proud son of the soil of Chak 12/11 L aka Sepoy is not the first to come to all y'all's collective minds. Munir Niazi, Mushtaq Ahmed, Abdus Salam. WHA?
I thought you were a Lahori...
I would love to read a post about your memories of Sahiwal, but then hazaroon khwahishein aisee ....
Qalandar: Elahi brothers (Manzoor Elahi etc.) are from Sahiwal as well, though they didn't really set the cricket world on fire.
I am rather flabbergasted that the proud son of the soil of Chak 12/11 L aka Sepoy is not the first to come to all y'all's collective minds. I was going through this entry on wikipedia and a little bit off the topic "Tariq Bin Ziad (TBZ) Colony, Sahiwal Tariq Bin Ziad colony is one of the beautiful housing schemes in Sahiwal. .......... . Mostly Arain (the descendants of Ummayad Arabs from Areeha who entered in the sub-continent in 711 AD with Muhammad Bin Qasim and were known as Areehai which chaged to Arain) families are inhabiting in the colony." Is it true? Knowing that you mentioned being from Arain clan?Was this the reason for your interest in Bin Qasim? Where can we find your thesis on Bin Qasim?
This is the first time, I have heard this thesis about Tariq Bin Ziad colony. If it had anything to do with Muhammad bin Qasim, why name it Tariq Bin Zayad. Anyway :) On Clans and Communities: {{site.baseurl}}archives/homistan/on_clans_and_communities.html "The Ara'ain community put out a History (Tari'kh-i Ara'ain) in 1963: History: The Ara'ains are descendants of a tribe from Jericho (in present day Palestine). They came to India in the army of Muhammad b. Qasim in early 8th century. In fact, it was their bravery that won the day for MbQ as the rest of the Arab army could never have handled the ferocity of the Sindhi defense. After the conquest, the tribe settled in southern Punjab and Sindh region. Sub casts: Sheikh (arabic word meaning elder), Shah, Mula, Malik, Mahr, Mian, Chaudhri. Qualities: Ara'ains are hardworking, honest, non-competitive, do not give their daughters to other clans or accept dowry, genial. They never ask for handouts, never participate in fraud or illegal activity [the history lists from Henry Burton's 1854 report Thughee in Punjab to show that Ara'ains are not present]. They are Arabs! The history goes on to enumerate the great members and families of the clan and their participation in the Independence movement and so on. Just as same, there are other communities that set out their histories, often in contention with each other. In present day Lahore, neighbors know each others clan affiliations, marriages are settled often times in accordance with, or at the very least the knowledge of, the respective communities. “Oh, he is a Malik” is enough to introduce a thumbnail sketch of a person's character, likely occupation. The overwhelming desire for pride and prejudice arising out of one's community tends to cloud any conversation on this subject among Pakistanis. After all, one of the things that sets the Pakistanis (read Muslims) from the Indians (read Hindus) is that the former do NOT have a caste system. So, while the exultation of one's blood lineage is good, one does not want appear as if our society is stratified and calcified by birth stations. And the point is largely accurate, there are no strict rules over intermarriages, co-mingling, or co-habitations among the different communities in Pakistan. Just preferences."
After all, one of the things that sets the Pakistanis (read Muslims) from the Indians (read Hindus) is that the former do NOT have a caste system. Not really true of Indian Muslims and the concentration of certain ethnicities in sectors where bonded labour is dominant suggests otherwise, but I do hear this a lot.
I think in the sense that Hindus have a jati/biraadari system, Muslims do too. In the sense of a hierarchical pyramid that is reducible to some kind of Manu-inspired schema, there is nothing analogous among Muslims (i.e. snobbery/class bias etc. is not the same as this sort of ritualized/regulated pyramid). That being said, it is the former (let's call it "jati/biraadari system" for ease of reference) that to me is the most relevant when discussing sub-continental societies, although commentators (especially Westerners) often seem to confuse it with the "Manu-pyramid". That being said, some confusion is to be expected given that the two systems overlap most clearly in two figures: that of the Brahmin and of the Dalit...
On Moby Q ;) {{site.baseurl}}/archives/univercity/dissertation_week_historical_muhammad_b_qasim.html "Nationalism needs heroes. It constructs for them elaborate mythologies. It nurtures, protects, and propagates those mythologies through all channels available to it. Examples can be stated from any given nation-state and let me highlight three that are directly relevant to my topic: the history and memory of Charlemagne in France, Shiva Ji in India, and Chinghiz Khan in Mongolia are all examples of heroes that represent some unique facet of that nation's foundational myth. Their mythologies, narratives and histories are not only produced for mass-consumption but also jealously guarded in the sites of memory (as Pierre Nora puts it). Muhammad b. Qasim al-Thaqafi is one such jealously guarded national hero. In the Pakistani national history, he is the founder of a Pakistani state in the eighth century. He is a devout Muslim, a dutiful commander and a paragon of a true soldier. His every step is taken to further the cause of Islam and the Caliph. He is brave, fair and just and he takes as his ultimate duty the establishment of the Islamic empire in al-Hind. Against all odds and with a small army, he vanquishes the despot Raja Dah‰r of al-Sind. His triumph complete, he returns to Iraq and falls victim to political treachery. There are competing narratives that cast him as a temple-burning, usurper and invader who establishes the rule of violent upheavel and colonialism in al-Sind and al-Hind. Still others seek in him a gentle warrior of the soul that epitomizes the Sufi-Soldier duality. These various narratives are fluid, they emerge from competing political and cultural spheres. My goal is to contextualize and analyze them. Simply stated. Of course, one arguement is that underneath all those “representations” is a “true” Muhammad b. Qasim and it is the job of the historian to unearth him. After all, where would we be without the Truth? Reading my dissertation, I guess. I make no attempt to collate/collapse all extant sources to take out the “kernel of truth” buried in there. My interest is in the production and receptions of these histories. With very few sources, fewer external ones, where can I find the truth, even if I had the intention? Are the earliest sources the most accurate? What if the earliest sources considered al-Sind to be a god-forsaken land and felt that the Muslim campaign there had not amounted to much? Muslim chroniclers spilled much ink on the sexy conquest of Sham and Fars (with attending heroes) and little on al-Sind (with a much more ambivalent hero). ... Why was he send there? al-Baladhuri maintains it was to capture some Kharajite rebels who had taken refuge with the Raja of al-Sind. The later sources have a far grander story about rescuing maidens that play a significant role in the present-day mythology of MbQ. Also, al-Hind held a curious fascination for the earliest Muslim expansionist. Missions were sent here as early as 'Umar b. al-Khattab and 'Uthman b. 'Affan. They were not successful but the tales of magical/golden al-Hind kept the interest alive. Further still, was the military imperative to keep the flanks covered after the conquest of Fars. " **** Also see "Dissertation Week: Textbook and Novels" at CM
Salman, can I appoint you Head Librarian for CM? The pay is meager but the bragging rights are phenomenal.
I can do pretty much anything for bragging rights :)
Salman. many thanks. Sepoy, These posts are fascinating.
I think in the sense that Hindus have a jati/biraadari system, Muslims do too. In the sense of a hierarchical pyramid that is reducible to some kind of Manu-inspired schema, there is nothing analogous among Muslims (i.e. snobbery/class bias etc. is not the same as this sort of ritualized/regulated pyramid). That being said, it is the former (let's call it “jati/biraadari system” for ease of reference) that to me is the most relevant when discussing sub-continental societies, although commentators (especially Westerners) often seem to confuse it with the “Manu-pyramid”. Q, there has been a fair amount of work done by sociologists on what they quaintly term as 'social stratification' amongst Indian Muslims. I don't think it would correspond to a classical style caste-system but there is a hierarchical ordering. More popular works have outlined gaps between the 'ashraf' and 'ajlaf' classes and some state govts have moved towards classifying reservations amongst OBC groups for Muslims - how much of this is down to political mobilisation and how much reflective of social realities I couldn't say with much confidence. I don't know much about Pakistan, but the work done by colleagues on bonded labour there, suggests that some groups like Pakistani Christians form an overwhelming proportion of the exploited labour working in sectors like the brick kiln industry; there seems to be some overlap perhaps with ethnicity, since the persistence of this kind of labour relation these days tends to be confined to where ethnic cleavages can be ordered on a class-like system. The Manu-pyramid, is a specific and rather brahmminical way of looking at caste imo; post-Srinivas we would probably be better off seeing caste society as a set of discrete groups striving competitively amongst each other than a continuous hierarchy. I think many Westerners and quite a few Muslims, make the mistake of seeing caste relations solely through the latter prism. The importance of the Dalit and Brahmin categories, imo, lies not in their overlapping in the two systems (the Dalit category I don't think does and is rather a complex category that isn't satisfactorily explained by recourses to orthodoxy) but in the fact that they are among the few constants in that they form pretty much the only two groups that are found in every region where caste society exists. Anyway, this is all bit of a diversion from the topic at hand!
Re: "I don't think it would correspond to a classical style caste-system but there is a hierarchical ordering." I actually agree with this: i.e. completely agree on the hierarchical ordering, but don't think it corresponds to the "classical caste system" -- although the extent to which Hindu populations correspond to "a classical style caste-system" is itself highly questionable. But IMO the stratification carries a certain intensity of charge in the latter case that is not there in the former (a charge of equal intensity might well be present in other contexts where Muslims are concerned, but not, I would argue, in this particular context). OK, will stop with the diversion :-)
Dr Abdus Salam was given a hero's welcome at Aligarh Muslim University; and he covered the distance from railway station to university campus in an eight horse open carriage. He also gave a copy of his Nobel prize as gift to Maulana Azad library (this was during the visit he came to India to meet his teacher).
Ok, can't resist this -- sorry, Aligarian, cheap shot I know! -- but wasn't even Sheikh Zayed (the then-ruler of the U.A.E.) also given a hero's welcome at AMU when he visited?
Sheikh Zayed did come to AMU in 1974, and was welcomed there and given an honorary degree. But the spontaneous reception given to Dr Salam was unprecedented, and first and foremost the whole AMU community was proud of him as a Muslim Nobel laureate; especially so as his country was less then charitable to him. After winning the Nobel Prize in 1979, Salam was not even invited to his own college. He did not even figure in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's count of distinguished old Ravians. By contrast when he went to Aligarh Muslim University to receive an honorary doctorate, the whole city turned up to greet him and students pushed his car for a mile to the campus.
Nations which do not honour their great men cease to produce them, and Pakistan, for sure, has produced no scientist of Salam's stature. His story is so remarkable at so many levels, and so many lessons to be learnt. In 1959, India's high commissioner in London brought to him an invitation from Pundit Nehru to visit India. There Nehru offered him a minister's rank at a salary he would himself name with no questions asked about money spent or wasted on particle research. Taken unawares, Salam sought time to think it over, came back and reported to President Ayub what had transpired. He declined a similar offer from Ayub, but agreed to act as his scientific adviser while remaining at Imperial College. So he was someone who loved his country so much, but his country rejected him. There is also an angle of communal harmony to his story; having earned every degree that he could, setting new records before he was 19, Salam's urge to go for research abroad would have remained unfulfilled had Sir Chhotu Ram, Punjab's revenue minister and a benefactor of the rural poor, not arranged a scholarship for him at Cambridge.
Thanks Aligarian -- great anecdotes. I had heard a similar one about Nehru and (perhaps) the Raja of Mahmudabad (not sure about the identity of the offeree). Actually I remember reading that the fast bowler Fazal Mehmood was also asked to stay back in India, although his case likely didn't make it as high up as Nehru...
[...] at that word Muslim scrapped clean by some industrious employee of the state. I have written previously about Abdus Salam but I didn’t mention his Ahmadiyat – just that he was considered an outcast. That was [...]