While many Islamic countries
claim to have been victimized by the "war on terror", it is interesting to note
that since September 11, 2001, three of the six individual Nobel peace laureates
have been Muslims. Their area of recognition has spanned from human rights
activism (Shirin Ebadi, 2003) to nuclear vigilance (Muhammad El Baradei, 2005)
to micro-credit entrepreneurship (Muhammad Yunus,
2006).
What is perhaps even more astonishing is that in
the 108-year history of the Nobel peace prize there are only two other Muslims
who have been so honored. Anwar Saadat (1978) and Yassir Arafat shared the prize
with Israeli leaders for highly variable and controversial contributions to
building peace in the Middle East.
Out of more than
five hundred Nobel laureates in the sciences, only two have been of Muslim
lineage. Pakistan can claim one of them: Abdus Salam, who shared the prize in
physics in 1979, and memorably wore a shervani and turban to the award ceremony
in Sweden. However, as a member of the Ahmadiya community, he was regrettably
spurned at home as a non-Muslim and died in 1996 without fully being able to
contribute to science education in Pakistan, despite his noblest intentions. Dr.
Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian-American chemist based at the California Institute of
Technology received the prize for chemistry in 1999 and is the Muslim world's
sole Nobel science star. He is clearly in high demand for this singular status
and has also been appointed by President Obama as one of his "science envoys."
-- Saleem H
Ali
Nobel Laureates and the Muslim World
By Saleem H Ali
David Brooks of the New York
Times wrote a rather controversial article last month titled "The Tel Aviv
Cluster," in which he enumerated the accomplishments of Israelis in particular,
and Jews in general. Brooks noted that, Jews "make up 0.2 percent of the world
population.. but 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the
medicine laureates." The Nobel prize -- for better or for worse -- has become a
touchstone for measuring success. Since many Muslims often see themselves in
competition with other Abrahamic faiths, it is worth pondering the comparison a
bit further.
While many Islamic countries
claim to have been victimized by the "war on terror", it is interesting to note
that since September 11, 2001, three of the six individual Nobel peace laureates
have been Muslims. Their area of recognition has spanned from human rights
activism (Shirin Ebadi, 2003) to nuclear vigilance (Muhammad El Baradei, 2005)
to micro-credit entrepreneurship (Muhammad Yunus, 2006).
What is perhaps even more
astonishing is that in the 108-year history of the Nobel peace prize there are
only two other Muslims who have been so honored. Anwar Saadat (1978) and Yassir
Arafat shared the prize with Israeli leaders for highly variable and
controversial contributions to building peace in the Middle
East.
Out of more than five hundred
Nobel laureates in the sciences, only two have been of Muslim lineage. Pakistan
can claim one of them: Abdus Salam, who shared the prize in physics in 1979, and
memorably wore a shervani and turban to the award ceremony in Sweden. However,
as a member of the Ahmadiya community, he was regrettably spurned at home as a
non-Muslim and died in 1996 without fully being able to contribute to science
education in Pakistan, despite his noblest intentions. Dr. Ahmed Zewail, an
Egyptian-American chemist based at the California Institute of Technology
received the prize for chemistry in 1999 and is the Muslim world's sole Nobel
science star. He is clearly in high demand for this singular status and has also
been appointed by President Obama as one of his "science
envoys."
The reason for the paucity of
Muslim laureates in the sciences is perhaps the relative intellectual inertia in
the educational institutions in many Muslim countries. There is a tendency for
many Muslims to atavistically celebrate the accomplishments of tenth-century
Muslim mathematicians, while investing little in developing contemporary
educational capacity. Far too often we hear from imams about the etymology of
algebra coming from Arabic and the pharmaceutical accomplishments of Avicenna
but do we ask why more of such great scholars have not been seen for a thousand
years in Islamic countries? Furthermore, it is important to remember that the
golden age of Islam was also its most pluralistic and even then there were
fundamentalist forces who constantly threatened these scientists. Let us not
forget the ruins of Madinat-al-Zahra, once a show-piece of Islamic art and
learning, just outside Cordoba, which was destroyed not by any "kuffar" but
instead by radical and retrogressive Muslim factions.
Those Muslims who are educated
and proceed to develop successful professional careers are often sanguine with a
comfortable job but would rather not invest in cutting-edge creativity. An
interesting example is the medical profession in which many Muslims, and indeed
Pakistani Muslims, have excelled considerably. However, most of these brilliant
doctors are focused on making money in clinical practice rather than in creative
research which would lead to laurels such as the Nobel prize. There is cultural
complacence that leads to a mindset where success is marked by simply making a
good living for the family, contributing some earnings to charity and then
living a lavish life.
As for the recent Muslim peace
laureates what is even more striking is that many Muslims have rejected their
efforts and refused to accept them as role models, labelling them instead as
stooges of the West.
I was amazed at the reaction of
one Canadian Muslim professor to the Nobel Prize awarded to Muhammad Yunus.
There was spiteful criticism of Dr Yunus as a narcissist who was charging the
destitute exorbitant un-Islamic interest rates. As with Shirin Ebadi and
Muhammad ElBaradei, many Muslims also consider Dr Yunus a "stooge of the West".
While there are some valid critiques of the Grameen Bank model in Bangladesh, it
is unfortunate that any novel idea has to be met with such contrarian zeal with
few alternative solutions. The overall picture is fairly clear: Bangladesh is at
least showing strongly positive signs of development, as measured by indicators
developed by Pakistan's own celebrated economist, the late Mahbub-ul-Haq (who
may well have become the first Muslim to win the Nobel Prize in economics had he
lived long enough). According to the director of the UN's Human Development
Report, Kevin Watkins, Bangladesh has seen child mortality falling at an annual
rate 50 percent higher than India and in 2006 the child survival rate is better
in Bangladesh than in either India or Pakistan. This is especially remarkable
for a country that has all natural odds against it with annual floods, cyclones
and a capricious agricultural climate.
Let us now turn to another
Muslim Nobel laureate, Orhan Pamuk of Turkey who won the Nobel Prize for
literature. Given the attendance of the Turkish leadership at this year's "U.S.
Islamic World Forum" , understanding his place in this pantheon is quite
significant as well. The late Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz is the only other
Muslim writer to have won this prize. Both of these writers have been known to
marginalize their Islamic identity at various times, and perhaps the literature
prize mirrors the peace prize in its political message. Just as Gandhi was
denied the peace prize despite being an inspiration to so many later laureates,
some Muslim writers may claim a measure of discrimination here, contending that
only a certain liberal elite is even considered seriously. In the case of Mr
Pamuk, one Turkish writer commented in the Wall Street Journal that he "has not
taught anyone anything they didn't already know but has made precisely the right
noises that the progressive arbiters of taste in Europe like to
hear".
While it may be argued that the
literature, peace and economics prizes are politicized, there is little doubt
that the science prize is quite authentic in its measure of excellence. This is
where Muslims should admire our Jewish brethren and learn from them rather than
grumbling about discrimination.
Alfred Nobel, the man who
perfected the alchemy of dynamite, could scarcely have imagined how momentous
his legacy would be for times to come. Every autumn we await the announcements
from Scandinavia about this most coveted of international honors. As the
pantheon of laureates grows larger and more diverse, the Islamic contribution to
this prize remains relatively small. This is a time for introspection among
Muslims and non-Muslims alike regarding the means and merits of such rewards,
and how best to use them as incentives for improving the human
condition.
Dr Saleem H Ali is associate professor of
environmental planning at the University of Vermont. His latest book is
"Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future" (Yale University
Press, 2009)
http://saleemali.newsvine.com/
9:26 PM
Sultan Shahin
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