The Jekylls And Hydes Of Religions

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -August 1, 2013 

“Imagine a garden with a hundred kinds of trees, a thousand kinds of flowers, a hundred kinds of fruit and vegetables. Suppose, then, that the gardener….knew no other distinction than between edible and inedible, nine tenth of this garden would be useless to him. He would pull up the most enchanting flowers and hew down the noblest trees and even regard them with a loathing and envious eye”. - Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf)

The discovery of the Higgs boson was a watershed event in the journey of science[i]. In the pantheon of scientists who paved the way for that momentous moment Abdus Salam occupies a pre-eminent position. Prof. Salam was Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate.India rejoiced in his towering achievements (he was born in pre-Partition Punjab) but Pakistan did not. The local police inspector was the highest state official present at his funeral.

Prof. Salam was an Ahmadi-Muslim. In 1974,Pakistan introduced a constitutional amendment decreeing the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Prof. Salam was a theoretical physicist of global renown, but for Pakistanhe was nothing more than a pariah, a heretic.

The persecutory-marginalisation of Prof. Salam is symbolic of how religious fundamentalism warps the national mind and debilitates the national will.

Pakistan’s founder did not try to decree who is/is not a Muslim. Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Foreign Minister was an Ahamadi-Muslim as were many of the new country’s top military and civilian officials. But as the influence of Wahabism began to permeate Pakistani society, the country became more intolerant not just towards Christians/Hindus but also towards Muslims deemed the ‘wrong sort’[ii]. Politicians started to pander to religious extremists to gain popularity and legitimacy. Prime Minister Bhutto introduced the first anti-Ahmadi law; Gen, Zia Ul Haq followed with more extreme measures (he also introduced the Sharia law in Pakistan, with the full backing of his American patrons).                               Read More