Anila Ali
In just under five months, the Nobel Prize ceremony will recognise the best minds in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace. However in recent times, the spotlight has shifted from celebrating the accomplishments of Nobel Prize laureates to scrutinizing the glaring absence of diversity among the winners.
The unavoidable truth for the Nobel Foundation is that in their120+ year history, the winners have been overwhelminglywhite, male and English speaking. Despite pledges that nominators would be “urged” to recognise a more diverse range of laureates, it seems little has changed for the better.
A lot of attention is rightly focused on the lack of women and black Nobel Laureates, however, the Foundation has failed on other areas of diversity too, especially when it comes to the Muslim world.
Between 1901 and 2022, there have been 13 Muslim individual winners out of 954 individual winners in total – 7 Peace laureates, 3 literature laureates, 2 chemistry laureates and 1 physics laureate. That’s a measly 1.3% of the total winners, despite Muslims making up around 24% of the global population. When you compare this to Jewish laureates, who account for 22% of Nobel winners out of a global population of 0.2% then it becomes clear that the Muslim world is being overlooked.
And it’s not totally the fault of the Foundation. After all, thevast majority of power, wealth and prestige is concentrated in the Global north where prestigious Western, English-speakinginstitutions are renowned for making scientific advancements. But this needs to change, especially if the world wants to be prepared for significant challenges to come.
After all, the Global South and most of the Muslim world aregoing to be on the frontlines of major interconnected crises that will define the 21st century.
Climate change is going to ravage the Global South and, in many ways, already is – rising temperatures, record droughts and more frequent famines are plaguing some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. From the war in Syria to the current conflict in Sudan – these climate issues are also increasingly fuelling or playing a role in a number of conflicts across the region, which in turn is driving record refugee flows that the world is struggling to manage.
Recognizing thought leaders, scientists, and activists from the Muslim world would not only give them the funding to continue their work, it would also be a pivotal chance to provide a prestigious platform for those inspiring transformational movements across the Muslim world.
For example, Dr Mohammed Al-Issa, the Secretary General of the Muslim World League (the world’s largest Muslim NGO)has been instrumental in forming ground-breaking interfaith coalitions across both the Global South and Global North. Dr Al-Issa’s fight against Holocaust denialism has been substantial – and in 2020 he become the most senior Islamic leader to lead a delegation to Auschwitz.
But besides his efforts in tackling extremism and hate, he has even made it is moral obligation to combat climate change. In recent times, Dr Al-Issa started Faith For Our Planet – the world’s first interfaith climate NGO that is proactively building bridges between the faith community and scientists – promoting climate action through workshops and events that span the globe.
Other notable Muslim oversights have been people likeKawkaba Nowruzi, an Afghan midwife who has been risking her life for 20 years to provide much-needed medical care to pregnant women, and organisations such as The White Helmets – a courageous network of Syrian search and rescue workers who since 2014 have braved the Syrian Army and Russian bombs to rescue those trapped in the rubble.
They – like many others – have been overlooked by the Committee. And for now, it’s not clear if anything is going to change.
Currently, Nobel prize nominators are protected by a statute that restricts disclosure on the details of a nomination – something which is detrimental to diversity. By hiding behind this statute, the Foundation is able to claim nominators are considering diversity without having to prove it. If the Foundation left this rule back in the century it belonged, nominators would feel under more pressure to prove their commitment to diversity.
Distressingly, in 2021, after every winner was White, the Foundation also rejected the need for diversity quotas. But diversity quotas would ensure the Foundation would be more reflective of the world today – where various fields include far more women, people of colour, and people of different faiths than ever before.
Ultimately, the Muslim world is at the epicentre of various crises, but it is also where a multitude of solutions are being found, specifically when it comes to the moral and faith leadership that is important to so many in the world.
In the end, the Nobel Prize is still an incredibly prestigious award that garners international attention every year. But ifthe Nobel Foundation fails to start shifting its attention to those working hard to tackle crises impacting the Muslim world it risks condemning itself to the history books.
Anila Ali is an interfaith leader in America, Ali has been an advocate for education, women’s empowerment, and minority rights in America. She has written extensively to advocate for diversity and inclusion and continues to be a voice for American Muslim women