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Malik Ben Nabi
Malik Ben
Nabi dilahirkan di Constantine, sebuah kota di Algeria Timur pada tahun 1906. Beliau mendapat pendidikan awal di sebuah Madrasah al-Quran di Perancis. Disebabkan kepintaran dan kepandaiannya, Malik mendapat biasiswa bagi meneruskan pengajiannya dalam kelas persediaan selama dua tahun di sekolah El-Djelis di Constantine.
Kemudian beliau memasuki sebuah madrasah yang melatih bakal hakim, guru, dan pembantu rumah sakit. Setelah memasuki madrasah berkenaan beliau didedahkan dengan kesusasteraan Perancis khususnya hikayat pengembaraan dan hikayat timur.
Beliau berasal daripada keluarga yang sederhana, namun berjiwa besar. Semasa melanjutkan pengajian diperingkat tinggi di Constantine, beliau sempat bertemu dengan Syeikh Abdul Majid dan Profesor Martin. Tokoh inilah yang banyak mempengaruhi pemikiran dan pembentukan sahsiah diri.
Setelah tamat pengajian, beliau pernah beberapa kali berkunjung ke Perancis. Seterusnya pada tahun 1930 beliau melanjutkan pengajian di Kolej Kejuruteraan. Setahun kemudian beliau berkahwin dengan wanita Perancis yang telah memeluk Islam. Semasa belajar, beliau terlibat dalam pelbagai Gerakan Pembaharuan. Di sinilah beliau banyak mengadakan pertemuan dengan tokoh-tokoh Islam serta mengikuti perkembangannya sama ada dari dalam atau luar Algeria seperti di Mesir, Hijaz, dan Maghribi.
Malik juga pernah menjawat jawatan Pegawai Pendaftar Mahkamah di Huran. Dalam tempoh itu beliau berpeluang bertemu dengan masyarakat untuk mengetahui masalah mereka yang berada di bawah penjajahan Perancis. Setelah Algeria merdeka pada tahun 1963, beliau menyandang jawatan Pengarah di Kementerian Pendidikan sehingga tahun 1967.
Berdasarkan sejarah awalnya,
Malik tidak berhasrat untuk menjadi seorang ahli falsafah, namun perkembangan dan keadaan semasa mengubah segala-galanya. Keadaan ketika itu telah memberi kesan mendalam dalam diri dan keperibadian beliau. Pengalaman itu memberi inspirasi kepadanya dalam memperjuangkan Islam dan meninggikan ummah dan bangsa.
Sebenarnya, perjalanan hidup beliau semasa penjajahan Perancis menyedarkannya tentang kemunduran masyarakat Islam. Lebih-lebih lagi mereka cuba mengubah identiti dan thaqafah atau nilai-nilai kebudayaan Islam dalam diri masyarakat Islam. Keadaan ini menyebabkan beliau mahu membebaskan pemikiran penjajah dalam jiwa rakyatnya.
Malik mempunyai minat yang mendalam dalam mempelajari dan membaca karya yang dihasilkan oleh tokoh-tokoh terkenal. Oleh sebab itu, karya-karya tokoh Islam seperti Syeikh al-Maulud bin al-Mauhub, Ibn Hasib dari Algeria, dan pemimpin Mesir seperti Muhammad Abduh secara tidak langsung telah mempengaruhi pemikiran beliau.
Selain itu, buku Risalah Tauhid karya Muhammad Abduh dan Keruntuhan Akhlak dalam Politik Barat oleh Rashid Redha, telah menyedarkan Malik tentang masalah umat Islam. Masalah keruntuhan akhlak dan kemiskinan intelektual yang semakin ketara perlu diselamatkan.
[ Last edited by lizz_7777 at 27-11-2008 06:39 AM ] |
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Beliau banyak meninggalkan koleksi karya, buku, dan esei ilmiah yang dapat menyumbangkan ilmu pengetahuan dan dimanfaatkan oleh dunia Islam kini. Malik sering memberi tumpuan kepada persoalan Tamadun Islam dan membuat perbandingan dengan urutan peristiwa semasa, isu-isu ekonomi, dan sains kemasyarakatan.
Karya beliau yang ditulis dalam Bahasa Arab telah diterjemahkan, antaranya ialah:
Lobbdyk, The Problem of Culture; The Ideological Struggle In Colonised Countries; The New Social Editification; The Idea of an Islamic Commonwealth.
Manakala hasil tulisannya dalam Bahasa Perancis pula ialah:
The Qur'anic Phenomenon; Vocation De Li Islam; Reflections; Memoirs Malik; The Work of Orientalistes; Islam et Democratic; Islam In History and Society.
Muka depan ilustrasi buku The Qur'anic Phenomenon salah sebuah hasil karya beliau
Malik telah dianugerahkan oleh
Allah S.W.T. ciri-ciri keistimewaannya tersendiri, iaitu pemikiran yang amat tajam dan mendalam dari segi penghayatannya. Pandangannya tentang Islam sentiasa mendapat tumpuan cendekiawan-cendekiawan Islam di Timur Tengah dan Eropah kerana sering menyentuh sesuatu isu secara global.
Menurut beliau, masyarakat Islam boleh membina tamadun dan peradaban di persada alam Islam dengan kembali kepada fitrah diri mereka sendiri.Mereka perlu menghayati Islam dan membina akidah dalaman yang mantap. Kemudian mengangkat diri mereka ketahap peradaban yang terkini dengan memperlengkapkan diri dengan pengetahuan teknologi semasa.
Isu-isu yang sering diutarakan oleh beliau adalah bersandarkan kepada nas-nas al-Quran dan sirah Nabawi. Selain itu, beliau juga mengambil kira usul-usul Islam yang bersesuaian dengan keadaan semasa.
Oleh hal yang demikian, Malik dianggap sebagai pemikir dan sarjana yang paling menonjol di Algeria selepas Perang Dunia Kedua. Sebagai seorang ahli falsafah, ketokohan beliau setanding dengan Iqbal. Nama beliau mula dikenali ramai kerana kebanyakan karyanya berkisar mengenai masyarakat Islam. Pemikirannya banyak menyentuh tentang penderitaan dan gejala sosiol yang dialami masyarakat Islam.
Cetusan idea beliau tidak hanya dijadikan kajian oleh sarjana-sarjana Islam, malah mula dipraktikkan oleh negara-negara Islam kini. Nama beliau mula dikenali di kalangan graduan-graduan Islam sejak kebelakangan ini.
Peranan dan jasa beliau amat berharga kepada dunia Islam. Misi beliiau adalah sama seperti ulama ulama silam Melayu. Antaranya ialah Syeikh Hadi al-Hadi dan Syeikh Tahir Jalaluddin. Yang memperjuangkan bangsa mereka daripada belenggu penjajahan. Tokoh yang berkaliber dan berwibawa ini meninggal dunia pada 31 Oktober 1973.
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Ulugh Beg (1394-1449)
Madrasah Ulug Beg. Ulugh Beg was the son and successor of Tamerlane, a gifted scientist and astronomer.
Mati di bunuh oleh anaknya.
The Fakhri sextant at Ulugh Beg's observatory is a 60 |
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Orhan Pamuk
Nobel Laureates-Literature 2006
Autobiography
Half of my book Istanbul is about the city; the other half chronicles the first 22 years of my life. I remember my huge disillusionment when it was finished. Of all the things I had wanted to express about my life, of all the memories that I considered the most crucial, only a few had found their way into the book. I could have written another twenty volumes describing the first twentytwo years of my life, each one drawing from a different set of experiences. It was then that I discovered that autobiographies served not to preserve our pasts, but to help us forget them.
I was born in Istanbul in 1952. My grandfather was a successful civil engineer and businessman who made his fortune building railroads and factories. My father followed in his footsteps, but instead of making money, he kept losing it. I was educated in private schools in Istanbul, and after studying architecture for three years, I dropped out, enrolled in a journalism course, and set out to become a writer. Between the ages of 7 and 22, I dreamed of being a painter. During my childhood and early youth, I painted with a happy and passionate sense of purpose. But by the time I stopped painting at the age of 22, I knew that I had no choice but to devote my life to art. At the same time, I had no idea why I gave up painting at the age of 22 and began to write my first novel, Cevdet Bey and Sons. It was to explore that mystery that, years later, I wrote Istanbul.
When I look back on my life up to the age of 54, I see a person who has worked long hours at a desk, in both happiness and in misery. I have written my books with care, patience, and good intentions, believing in each and every one. Success, fame, professional happiness |
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Anwar al-Sadat
The Nobel Peace Prize 1978
Curriculum Vitae| Born 25th December 1918 in Tala District, Menufia Governorate, Egypt | Married to Jihan Sadat
| | | Education: Military College | | Editor Al Jumhuriya and Al Tahrir
| 1955-56 | Minister of State
| 1955-56 | Vice-Chairman National Assembly
| 1957-60 | Chairman National Assembly
| 1960-68 | | General Secretary Egyptian National Union | 1957-61 | Chairman Afro-Asian Solidarity Council
| 1961 | Member Presidential Council
| 1962-1964 | Vice-president of Egypt
| 1964-66, 1969-70 | President of Egypt
| 1970 | Prime Minister
| 1973-74 | Chairman Arab Socialist Union
| 1970 | Member Higher Council on Nuclear Energy
| 1975 |
Nobel Lecture*Nobel Lecture, December 10, 1978
Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Mr. Prime Minister of Israel, Madame Chairman and Members of The Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Peace be upon you. This is the traditional way in which, everyday, we greet one another. It reflects our deepest feelings and hopes. We always say it and we mean it.
Your Majesty, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The decision of the Nobel Prize Committee to bestow upon me the Peace Award has been received by the people of Egypt not only as an honor, but also as a confirmation of the universal recognition of our relentless efforts to achieve peace in an area in which God has chosen to bring to mankind, through Moses, Jesus and Mohamed, His message of wisdom and light.
Your Majesty, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Recognition is due to a man of the highest integrity: President Jimmy Carter whose signal efforts to overcome obstacles in the way of peace deserves our keenest appreciation.
The road to peace is one which, throughout its history which coincides with the dawn of human civilization, the people of Egypt have considered as befitting their genius, and their vocation. No people on earth have been more steadfastly faithful to the cause of peace, and none more attached to the principles of justice which constitute the cornerstone of any real and lasting peace.
Do I need to remind such an august and distinguished gathering, that the first recorded peace treaty in history was concluded more than three thousand years ago between Ramses the Great and Hattusilis, Prince of the Hittites, who resolved to establish "good peace and good brotherhood?"1
And since then, through the ages, even when wars appeared as a necessary evil the real genius of Egypt has been one of peace... and its ambition has been to build not to destroy, to create not to annihilate, to coexist not to eliminate. Thus, the land of Egypt has always been cherished by God Almighty: Moses lived there, Jesus fled to it from injustice and foreign domination, and the Holy Koran has blessed it. And Islam, which is the religion of justice, equality and moral values, has added new dimensions to the eternal spirit of Egypt.
We have always realized that the qualities of chivalry, courage, faith and discipline that were characteristic of a romantic concept of war, should, in an era where war has become only synonymous with devastation to all, be a means of enriching life, not generating death.
It is in this spirit that Alfred Nobel created the prize which bears his name d which is aimed at encouraging mankind to follow the path of peace, development, progress and prosperity.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is in the light of all this, that I embarked a year ago upon my initiative aimed at restoring peace in an area where man received the words of God.
Through me it was the eternal Egypt that was expressing itself: Let us put an end to wars, let us reshape life on the solid basis of equity and truth. And it is this call, which reflected the will of the Egyptian people, of the great majority of the Arab and Israeli peoples, and indeed of millions of men, women, and children around the world that you are today honoring. And these hundreds of millions will judge to what extent every responsible leader in the Middle East has responded to the hopes of mankind.
We have now come, in the peace process, to a moment of truth which requires each one of us to take a new look at the situation. I trust that you all know that when I made my historic trip to Jerusalem my aim was not to strike a deal as some politicians do.
I made my trip because I am convinced that we owe it to this generation and the generations to come, not to leave a stone unturned in our pursuit of peace. The ideal is the greatest one in the history of man, and we have accepted the challenge to translate it from a cherished hope into a living reality, and to win through vision and imagination, the hearts and minds of our peoples and enable them to look beyond the unhappy past.
Let me remind you of what I said in the Knesset, more than one year ago; I said:
"Let me tell you truthfully: Today we have a good chance for peace, an opportunity that cannot be repeated, if we are really serious in the quest for peace. If we throw or fritter away this chance, the curse of mankind and the curse of history will befall the one who plots against it".
I would like now, on this most solemn and moving occasion, to pledge again that we in Egypt - with the future rather than the past in mind - are determined to pursue in good faith, as we have always done, the road to peace, and to leave no avenue unexplored to reach this cherished goal, and to reconcile the sons of Ismail and the sons of Isaac. In renewing this pledge, which I hope that the other parties will also adhere to, I again repeat what I said in the Knesset more than a year ago:
"Any life lost in war is the life of a human being, irrespective of whether it is an Arab or an Israeli.
The wife who becomes widowed is a human being, entitled to live in a happy family, Arab or Israeli.
Innocent children, deprived of paternal care and sympathy are all our children, whether they live on Arab or Israeli soil and, we owe them the biggest responsibility of providing them with a happy present and bright future.
For the sake of all this, for the sake of protecting the lives of all our sons and brothers;
For our societies to produce in security and confidence;
For the development of man, his well-being and his right to share in an honorable life;
For our responsibility toward the coming generations;
For the smile of every child born on our land".
This is our conception of peace which I repeat today... The Day of Human Rights.
In the light of this let me share with you our conception of peace:
First, the true essence of peace which ensures its stability and durability, is justice. Any peace not built on justice and on the recognition of the rights of the peoples, would be a structure of sand which would crumble under the first blow.
The peace process comprises a beginning and steps towards an end. In reaching this end the process must achieve its projected goal. That goal is to bring security to the peoples of the area, and the Palestinians in particular, restoring to them all their right to a life of liberty and dignity. We are moving steadily towards this goal for all the peoples of the region. This is what I stand for. This is the letter and the spirit of Camp David.
Second, peace is indivisible. To endure, it should be comprehensive and involve all the parties in the conflict.
Third, peace and prosperity in our area are closely linked and interrelated. Our efforts should aim at achieving both, because it is as important to save man from death by destructive weapons, as it is not to abandon him to the evils of want and misery. And war is no cure for the problems of our area. And last, but not least, peace is a dynamic construction to which all should contribute, each adding a new brick. It goes far beyond a formal agreement or treaty, it transcends a word here or there. That is why it requires politicians who enjoy vision and imagination and who, beyond the present, look towards the future.
It is with this conviction, deeply rooted in our history and our faith, that the people of Egypt have embarked upon a major effort to achieve peace in the Middle East, an area of paramount importance to the whole world. We will spare no effort, we will not tire or despair, we will not lose faith, and we are confident that, in the end, our aim will be achieved.
I will ask you all to join me in a prayer that the day may soon come when peace will prevail, on the basis of justice and the recognition of the rights of all the peoples to shape their own life, to determine their own future, and to contribute to building a world of prosperity for all mankind.
[ Last edited by lizz_7777 at 22-11-2008 08:15 PM ] |
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Abdus Salam
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1979
Biography
Abdus Salam was born in Jhang, a small town in what is now Pakistan, in 1926. His father was an official in the Department of Education in a poor farming district. His family has a long tradition of piety and learning.
When he cycled home from Lahore, at the age of 14, after gaining the highest marks ever recorded for the Matriculation Examination at the University of the Punjab, the whole town turned out to welcome him. He won a scholarship to Government College, University of the Punjab, and took his MA in 1946. In the same year he was awarded a scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took a BA (honours) with a double First in mathematics and physics in 1949. In 1950 he received the Smith's Prize from Cambridge University for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to physics. He also obtained a PhD in theoretical physics at Cambridge; his thesis, published in 1951, contained fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics which had already gained him an international reputation.
Salam returned to Pakistan in 1951 to teach mathematics at Government College, Lahore, and in 1952 became head of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University. He had come back with the intention of founding a school of research, but it soon became clear that this was impossible. To pursue a career of research in theoretical physics he had no alternative at that time but to leave his own country and work abroad. Many years later he succeeded in finding a way to solve the heartbreaking dilemma faced by many young and gifted theoretical physicists from developing countries. At the ICTP, Trieste, which he created, he instituted the famous "Associateships" which allowed deserving young physicists to spend their vacations there in an invigorating atmosphere, in close touch with their peers in research and with the leaders in their own field, losing their sense of isolation and returning to their own country for nine months of the academic year refreshed and recharged.
In 1954 Salam left his native country for a lectureship at Cambridge, and since then has visited Pakistan as adviser on science policy. His work for Pakistan has, however, been far-reaching and influential. He was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and was Chief Scientific Adviser to the President from 1961 to 1974.
Since 1957 he has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London, and since 1964 has combined this position with that of Director of the ICTP, Trieste.
For more than forty years he has been a prolific researcher in theoretical elementary particle physics. He has either pioneered or been associated with all the important developments in this field, maintaining a constant and fertile flow of brilliant ideas. For the past thirty years he has used his academic reputation to add weight to his active and influential participation in international scientific affairs. He has served on a number of United Nations committees concerned with the advancement of science and technology in developing countries.
To accommodate the astonishing volume of activity that he undertakes, Professor Salam cuts out such inessentials as holidays, parties and entertainments. Faced with such an example, the staff of the Centre find it very difficult to complain that they are overworked.
He has a way of keeping his administrative staff at the ICTP fully alive to the real aim of the Centre - the fostering through training and research of the advancement of theoretical physics, with special regard to the needs of developing countries. Inspired by their personal regard for him and encouraged by the fact that he works harder than any of them, the staff cheerfully submit to working conditions that would be unthinkable here at the (International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA). The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award he spent on setting up a fund for young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He uses his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries and does not spend a penny of it on himself or his family.
Abdus Salam is known to be a devout Muslim, whose religion does not occupy a separate compartment of his life; it is inseparable from his work and family life. He once wrote: "The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah's created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a grace for which I render thanks with a humble heart."
[ Last edited by lizz_7777 at 22-11-2008 08:57 PM ] |
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Naguib Mahfouz
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988
BiographyBorn in Cairo in 1911, Naguib Mahfouz began writing when he was seventeen. His first novel was published in 1939 and ten more were written before the Egyptian Revolution of July 1952, when he stopped writing for several years. One novel was republished in 1953, however, and the appearance of the Cairo Triology, Bayn al Qasrayn, Qasr al Shawq, Sukkariya (Between-the-Palaces, Palace of Longing, Sugarhouse) in 1957 made him famous throughout the Arab world as a depictor of traditional urban life. With The Children of Gebelawi (1959), he began writing again, in a new vein that frequently concealed political judgements under allegory and symbolism. Works of this second period include the novels, The Thief and the Dogs (1961), Autumn Quail (1962), Small Talk on the Nile (1966), and Miramar (1967), as well as several collections of short stories.
Until 1972, Mahfouz was employed as a civil servant, first in the Ministry of Mortmain Endowments, then as Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Art, as Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, and, finally, as consultant on Cultural Affairs to the Ministry of Culture. The years since his retirement from the Egyptian bureaucracy have seen an outburst of further creativity, much of it experimental. He is now the author of no fewer than thirty novels, more than a hundred short stories, and more than two hundred articles. Half of his novels have been made into films which have circulated throughout the Arabic-speaking world. In Egypt, each new publication is regarded as a major cultural event and his name is inevitably among the first mentioned in any literary discussion from Gibraltar to the Gulf.
I
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Yasser Arafat
The Nobel Peace Prize 1994
Biography
Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat As Qudwa al-Hussaeini was born on 24 August 1929 in Cairo**, his father a textile merchant who was a Palestinian with some Egyptian ancestry, his mother from an old Palestinian family in Jerusalem. She died when Yasir, as he was called, was five years old, and he was sent to live with his maternal uncle in Jerusalem, the capital of the British Mandate of Palestine. He has revealed little about his childhood, but one of his earliest memories is of British soldiers breaking into his uncle's house after midnight, beating members of the family and smashing furniture.
After four years in Jerusalem, his father brought him back to Cairo, where an older sister took care of him and his siblings. Arafat never mentions his father, who was not close to his children. Arafat did not attend his father's funeral in 1952.
In Cairo, before he was seventeen Arafat was smuggling arms to Palestine to be used against the British and the Jews. At nineteen, during the war between the Jews and the Arab states, Arafat left his studies at the University of Faud I (later Cairo University) to fight against the Jews in the Gaza area. The defeat of the Arabs and the establishment of the state of Israel left him in such despair that he applied for a visa to study at the University of Texas. Recovering his spirits and retaining his dream of an independent Palestinian homeland, he returned to Faud University to major in engineering but spent most of his time as leader of the Palestinian students.
He did manage to get his degree in 1956, worked briefly in Egypt, then resettled in Kuwait, first being employed in the department of public works, next successfully running his own contracting firm. He spent all his spare time in political activities, to which he contributed most of the profits. In 1958 he and his friends founded Al-Fatah, an underground network of secret cells, which in 1959 began to publish a magazine advocating armed struggle against Israel. At the end of 1964 Arafat left Kuwait to become a full-time revolutionary, organising Fatah raids into Israel from Jordan.
It was also in 1964 that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was established, under the sponsorship of the Arab League, bringing together a number of groups all working to free Palestine for the Palestinians. The Arab states favoured a more conciliatory policy than Fatah's, but after their defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Fatah emerged from the underground as the most powerful and best organised of the groups making up the PLO, took over that organisation in 1969 when Arafat became the chairman of the PLO executive committee. The PLO was no longer to be something of a puppet organisation of the Arab states, wanting to keep the Palestinians quiet, but an independent nationalist organisation, based in Jordan.
Arafat developed the PLO into a state within the state of Jordan with its own military forces. King Hussein of Jordan, disturbed by its guerrilla attacks on Israel and other violent methods, eventually expelled the PLO from his country. Arafat sought to build a similar organisation in Lebanon, but this time was driven out by an Israeli military invasion. He kept the organization alive, however, by moving its headquarters to Tunis. He was a survivor himself, escaping death in an airplane crash, surviving any assassination attempts by Israeli intelligence agencies, and recovering from a serious stroke.
His life was one of constant travel, moving from country to country to promote the Palestinian cause, always keeping his movements secret, as he did any details about his private life. Even his marriage to Suha Tawil, a Palestinian half his age, was kept secret for some fifteen months. She had already begun significant humanitarian activities at home, especially for disabled children, but the prominent part she took in the public events in Oslo was a surprise for many Arafat-watchers. Since then, their daughter, Zahwa, named after Arafat's mother, has been born.
The prospects for a peace agreement with Israel now brightened. After a setback when the PLO supported Iraq in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the peace process began in earnest, leading to the Oslo Accords of 1993.
This agreement included provision for the Palestinian elections which took place in early 1996, and Arafat was elected President of the Palestine Authority. Like other Arab regimes in the area, however, Arafat's governing style tended to be more dictatorial than democratic. When the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in Israel in 1996, the peace process slowed down considerably. Much depends upon the nature of the new Israeli government, which will result from the elections to be held in 1999.
[ Last edited by lizz_7777 at 22-11-2008 09:23 PM ] |
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Ferid Murad
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998
Autobiography
My father, Jabir Murat Ejupi, was born in Albania in 1892 and was the oldest of four children. His mother died when he was 13 years old. He and his family were shepherds and he subsequently ran away from home to sell candy in the Balkan countries as a teenager for several years. Although he had less than a year of education, he learned to speak seven languages before he died at the age of 84 in 1976. He met a group of other teenagers in Austria and they immigrated to the United States. The immigration officer at Ellis Island, August, 1913, asked his name, after which the officer declared him to be John Murad and stamped his papers. It was not uncommon to have names changed and abbreviated upon immigration. After working briefly in the steel mills and factories in Cleveland and Detroit, he settled in Chicago where he had several friends. His career was quite diverse and although he never admitted it, I learned subsequently from some of his colleagues that he was quite a playboy with fancy automobiles, perhaps the reason for my love of nice cars.
My mother, Henrietta Josephine Bowman, was born in 1918 in Alton, Illinois and was the third of six surviving children of Elizabeth Lillian and Andrew Orvie Bowman. My grandmother was a kind and wonderful woman. Only six of her eleven children survived due to stillbirths and some died of diseases and other conditions of poverty. My mother went to grade school for several years before she too quit to help her mother and younger siblings while her mother and two older sisters went to work. My grandfather was a carpenter who generally worked part-time and frequently spent his modest paycheck at the local bars before going home. The childhood poverty of both my parents and their minimal education did much to influence me and my two younger brothers in our education and career choices. One brother became a dentist and the other a professor of anthropology with a PhD degree.
My mother also ran away from home at 17 in 1935 to marry my father who was 39. I was born September 14, 1936 at home in their hot and small apartment over a bakery in Whiting, Indiana. My brothers John Abderhaman and Turhon Allen were born in 1938 and 1944. We were raised in a four room aparttment behind my parents' restaurant in Whiting, Indiana. This small apartment undoubtedly influenced my desire for large expensive homes.
The restaurant business had a profound effect on my future and that of my two brothers. When we were able to stand on a stool to reach the sink we washed dishes and later when we could see over the counter, we waited tables and managed the cash register. I did this throughout grade school and high school each evening and on weekends. I created a game from those chores and learned to memorize all of the customer's orders in our restaurant with a capacity of 28 customers and before they left I would tally their bills mentally and meet them at the cash register. I met a diverse and wonderful group of customers that ranged from laborers in the local refineries and steel mills to local bankers, businessmen, families and school teachers. My parents worked long hours as is typical of a family business, particularly a restaurant. My father worked 16 to 18 hours daily while my mother put in similar hours between the restaurant and raising three children. They owned the building that also included two other small apartments, another small business and 21 sleeping rooms upstairs. Many of the tenants were old and retired and my mother would often care for them and prepare their meals when they were sick. I learned from my mother and grandmother Bowman about compassion and generosity for people and this in turn influenced my career choice in medicine. My father taught me some business skills and how to repair numerous items that were continually breaking down in this old building. He was quite good at remembering how he took anything apart in order to repair it and reassemble the pieces as I stood at his side as a youngster passing him tools.
With this background I knew that I wanted considerable education so I wouldn't have to work as hard as my parents. Also, I knew at the age of 12 that I was going to become a doctor. My parents always encouraged us to get an education and establish a profession. However, my brothers and I grew up with considerable freedom whether it was saving or spending our tips from the restaurant or our career choices. This was also applied to our religious choices as my father was Muslim, my mother Baptist and we were raised in a Catholic community. Subsequently, my brothers became Catholic when they married Catholic wives and I was baptized Episcopalian in college. My wife of more than forty years is Presbyterian, two of our daughters married Jewish men and one married a Catholic man.
In eighth grade the class was asked to write an essay of our top three career choices. My choices were 1) physician, 2) teacher and 3) pharmacist (in 1948 clinical pharmacology was not yet a discipline in medicine). Today I do just that, as I am a board certified physician and internist doing both basic and clinical research with considerable teaching in medicine, pharmacology and clinical pharmacology and with a PhD in pharmacology. While I am probably working much harder and longer hours than my parents, I certainly love my profession and have considerably more enjoyment and disposable income than they did. Until my graduation from high school only three of my cousins had finished high school and no relatives had ever gone to college. Grade school, middle school and high school were relatively easy for me and with little studying I was an honor student every semester graduating 5th in my high school class. Fortunately several high school teachers, some of whom frequented our restaurant, Jack Taylor in Spanish and history, LaDonna Thue Elson in art, Bernard Quebeck in music, Jesse Allen in math, and coach Peter Kovachic convinced me I had some potential and were wonderful counselors and advisers. I lettered in track and cross country as a distance runner in the one and two mile events and music. I also played football and basketball but spent most of my time keeping the bench warm. I played offense and defense left guard at 5'11 " and 140 pounds. After three monsters ran over the top of me I spent more of my energy with distance running in cross country. While I started to play golf in grade school, I stopped playing for many years during college and medical training and I continue to struggle with my game after I began playing again about 20 years ago.
There was one notable friend since kindergarten, Ronald Delismon, who influenced me considerably. We competed constantly with everything: grades, chess, fencing, sports, etc. Today he is an aeronautical engineer recently retired from Boeing. His projects were always top secret such as the stealth bomber and some of the star war defense projects. He would never discuss his work with me for security reasons and often joked with me by saying, "if I told you, I would then have to kill you". After 57 years we remain the best of friends and still compete, generally at golf, skiing and more pleasant encounters. His recent comment was, "one Nobel to zero".
The University of Chicago had a new program in the 1950s that accepted students after three years of high school and friends in the restaurant who were alumni from the University of Chicago encouraged me to apply. However, after considerable thought I decided not to enter college prematurely but rather completed my senior year in high school. In retrospect, this was the correct decision for me as my senior year in high school was wonderful. I coasted through the year with excellent grades and lots of fun participating in the school's chorus and took the lead in several operettas. This was probably the only year in school where I wasn't compulsive about grades and didn't study constantly.
Since my parents couldn't afford to help me with my college costs, I looked for a school that offered the best scholarship. I considered the military programs at the Naval Academy and Westpoint, but I knew I wouldn't have received the biology training for medical school since these were primarily engineering programs with a requisite four years of military duty afterwards. I competed successfully for a Rector Scholarship at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, a small and excellent liberal arts university and went there from 1954 to 1958 on a tuition scholarship. The first year my grades were okay but not great with several A's, one C and the rest B's due to the hazing and distractions of being a pledge in the fraternity. In subsequent years my grades progressively improved as I was developing more self confidence and better study habits. I lived in "annexes", or small apartments with other fraternity brothers since the fraternity couldn't accommodate all of us and I generally chose other premeds as roommates. We often studied together and competed for grades. I was the scholarship chairman of the fraternity and remained a premed major with a second major in chemistry as I enjoyed both biology and chemistry. Throughout college I waited tables, taught the anatomy and embryology labs and worked one and sometimes two jobs during the summers to cover my expenses. If I had only one summer job I would take additional classes at one of the local extensions of Indiana University for additional math or literature classes in order to take more courses in biology, chemistry, physics or Greek and Latin at DePauw. The Greek and Latin courses in high school and college were of great value subsequently in learning the root derivatives of many scientific words.
[ Last edited by lizz_7777 at 22-11-2008 09:51 PM ] |
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