Butt was born in Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 3 June 1936. He is of Kashmiri descent. He completed his matriculation from the Muslim High School, Sialkot. In 1951, Butt enrolled to attend the Murray College to study physics and graduated with BSc in physics in 1955, standing top in his class of 1955 of the Murray College.
He went to attend the Government College University in Lahore to study physics under Dr. Rafi Muhammad where his research was focused towards the quantum reaction in nuclear physics, covering the topic of bombardment of Li high-energy protons to emit the energy spectrum of alpha particle. In 1957, he graduated with MSc in nuclear physics after successfully defending his thesis written under dr. Rafi Muhammad. His graduation was noted in the local university press when he was conferred with the Roll of Honor by the university.
In 1963, he went to attend the Birmingham University in England on Commonwealth Scholarship for his doctoral studies, and carried out his doctoral studies under Dr. Philip Burton Moon. He studied topics in solid state physics and kinetic theory of solids under Rudolf Peierls while conducting his doctoral studies on the diffraction with Mössbauer effect through the spectroscopy techniques under Dr. William Burchman. In 1965, Butt successfully defended his doctoral thesis and was conferred with the PhD in nuclear physics under the supervision of Philip Burton Moon from the Birmingham University in England.
He remained associated with the Birmingham University in England and taught various courses on physics as a visiting professor while he collaborated with British physicist, Dr. D.A. OConner, at the Department of Nuclear Physics in Birmingham University. In 1993, Butt was conferred with the DSc in physics, titled: "Structure Properties of Cubic Crystals'", that covered wide range of topics in material science and solid-state physics— though this research work was based on independent but authoritative and classified research sponsored by the British government.