Dr. Hafiz Saleh Muhammad Alladin (born 3 March 1931 in Hyderabad, India; died March 20, 2011, in Amritsar[1]) was an Indian Ahmadi Muslim astronomer. Alladin received in 1963 a PhD at the University of Chicago. He was among the famous 100 Astronomers of the world and served as the educational advisor to former President APJ Abdul Kalam of India. He wrote many books, penned hundreds of articles and published more than 50 research papers. He then went as a professor at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, where he was Director of the Center of Advanced Study in Astronomy.[2] [3]
Alladin was a prominent member of many scientific societies such as the International Astronomical Union, Astronomical Society of India, Plasma Science Society of India, the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation and the Indian Association of Physics Teachers.[1]
He showed that Solar and Lunar eclipses occur simultaneously every 22 years in Ramadan but for them to occur at a specific area is almost impossible, and that the last Solar and Lunar eclipses above Qadian occurred 600 years ago.[4]
His grandfather Seth Abdullah Alladin was the first in his family to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and devoted a large part of his wealth to that cause. He was the president of Sadar Anjuman Ahmadiyya, the highest body of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamat in India under the Khalifatul Masih V Mirza Masroor Ahmad for 4 years. He was referred as Ulul Albab by Mirza Masroor Ahmad which means one of those gifted with understanding.[5]
He won many awards and recognitions: