Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is the founder of Pakistan. He is honored in Pakistan as the “Quaid-e-Azam” and “Baba-e-Qaum”. Professionally, he was a Barrister and later a Politician. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (14 August 1947 – 11 September 1948). Do you want to read the detailed article about Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah? Well, here you will find the Biography, Personal Life, Religion, and Accomplishments of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. So, stay connected with us at the end of the article.
Biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Early Years, Political Life & Education
Family and Childhood
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in 1876 and named Mahomedali Jinnahbhai. Jinnahbhai Poonja and Mithibai were his parents. He was born in Wazir Mansion near Karachi, Pakistan but at that time it was in the Bombay Presidency of British India. Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s lineage had a Gujarati Khoja Shi’a Muslim background. After his casualty, his family and other collaborators declared that he had moved towards the Sunni sect earlier in his life. He had a wealthy merchant family background.
Jinnah was the second child of his parents. He had three brothers and three sisters, one of his younger sisters was Fatima Jinnah. His parents were aboriginal Gujarati speakers, and the children likewise attained to speak Kutchi and English. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did not have fluency in Gujarati, in fact, he was more articulate in speaking English. For his early education, he went to the Sindh-Madrasa-Tul-Islam and the Christian Missionary Society High School. He passed his matriculation from Bombay University at the elevated institute.
In 1892, Sir Frederick Leigh Croft, who was a business partner of Jinnahbhai Poonja, proposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah a London internship with his corporation, Graham’s Shipping, and Trading Company. He endorsed the proposal despite the disagreement of his mother. She insisted he had an arranged wedding with his cousin, Emibai Jinnah. Later, his mother and first wife, Emibai Jinnah both departed when was in England.
His internship in London was a tremendous opportunity for Jinnah. But Jinnah left that internship due to a lawful proceeding against his father. And that put the family’s estate at the stake of being set apart by the judiciary. Later, in 1893, his family shifted to Bombay. And he enrolled in Lincoln’s Inn. Later, stating the reason to choose Lincoln’s Inn over other Inns of Court he said, that there was the name of the world’s incredible Justice giver, Muhammad at the entrance of Lincoln’s Inn.
During his law studies, he pursued a predominant barrister and also studied law books. At that duration, he deducted his name to Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Western society inspired Jinnah in his political career and also in individual intentions. Throughout his life, he always dressed up well in public. His costumes were modeled by Savile Row tailor Henry Poole & Co. He owned over 200 dresses at that time.
Moreover, in his later years, he usually wore a Karakul cap which hereafter got to be recognized as the “Jinnah Cap”. He was disappointed with the law and joined the Shakespearean corporation. But he also relinquished that corporation when he received a serious letter from his father. He returned to Karachi but stayed there only for a short period then moved to Bombay.
Initial Political Career
In 1896, Jinnah joined the largest Indian political organization known as Indian National Congress. And on January 25, 1910, Jinnah entered the sixty-member Imperial Legislative Council. But he came to know that the congress had no actual leverage or authority and just encompassed various un-voted pro-Raj nationalists and Europeans. However, Jinnah was in an attempt at the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimization of the Muslim wakf–spiritual authorized. Later, during World War I, Muhammad Ali Jinnah entered other Indian moderates to subsidize the efforts of the British war. He hoped that Indians would have political independence. Jinnah considered the All India Muslim League as too collaborative. He joined the All India Muslim League in 1913. Later he became the president of the League at a session in Lucknow, in 1916. Jinnah created the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the League. He wanted to take both of the organizations together on their common issues.
The main purpose of the Congress-League proposal in that treaty was to evolve as the motive for the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, also recognized as the Act of 1919. And the Lucknow Pact embodied a juncture in the development of Indian politics. In Lucknow Pact also capitulated Muslims the right to insulate the electorate, configuration of seats in the legislatures. Thus, their retention was ensured in the next phase of reforms. By 1917, Jinnah came to be known among both Hindus and Muslims as one of India’s most extraordinary political commanders. Not only he was well-known in the Congress and the Imperial Legislative Council, but he was also the President of the All-India Muslim League and also of the Bombay Branch of the Home Rule League. More greatly, due to his leading role in the Congress-League convention at Lucknow, he was acclaimed as the ambassador, of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Constitutional Combat
Jinnah narrated the Nagpur Congress Session (1920); “you are giving rise to a statement (of Swaraj within a year) and dedicating the Indian National Congress to a program, which you will not be eligible to proceed”. He came to know there was no quick path to freedom and any additional strategies could only oversee political trouble, corruption, and violence and this won’t bring India towards independence. And later, his forecasting proved him right. Therefore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah left the Congress, he continued his efforts for freedom of the subcontinent. But the Hindus neglected the moral needs of the Muslims. He endeavored the development of the Delhi Muslim Proposals in March 1927. Again in the Nehru Report (1928), which illustrated the Congress-sponsored recommendations for the forthcoming legislation of India, Congress gave rise to friction between the two nations. It contradicted the basic Muslim needs that were encompassed in the Delhi Muslim Proposals.
At this failure, Jinnah asserted at the National Convention of Congress in 1928, “What we expect is that Hindus and Muslims should walk together until our goal is accomplished. Both the nations have bought to be appeased and united. They should be made to realize that they have common concerns. But the Convention’s refused to approve Muslim needs and it embodied the obstacle to Jinnah’s endeavors to give rise to Hindu-Muslim unity. This led him to depart from the subcontinent and settle in London. However, he returned to India in 1934, at the requests of his colleagues, and assumed their surveillance. But, the Muslims were disappointed at that time. They were disappointed, politically scattered, and far away from the political program.
Leader of the Muslim League
The British Government of India Act 1935 provided substantial leverage to territories of India, with an ineffective central authority in New Delhi. This parliament had no power over main concerns such as foreign policy, defense, and allocation. Entire power stayed under the supervision of the Viceroy. The League approved the strategy, and also expressed the misgivings about the vulnerable government. For the provisional elections of 1937, Congress developed well. While the Muslim League could not win a majority Muslim seat in any of the provinces.
Jinnah reorganized the League by imposing much authority in a Working Committee, which he nominated. And in December 1939, Liaquat figured out that the League had three million two-anna fellows. At the Allahabad session in 1930, Doctor Allama Muhammad Iqbal demanded a country for Muslims in British India. In 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a booklet endorsing a state “Pakistan” for the Muslim majority areas. Jinnah and Iqbal were confirmed in 1936 and 1937 in successive years. Jinnah mentioned Allama Iqbal as his mentor.
Allama Muhammad Iqbal: Allama Iqbal explained the political destiny of Muslims of India in the following words:
Lahore Resolution, 1940
The annual session of the All India Muslim League was held in Lahore on 22 – 24 March 1940. At this session, the resolution for the establishment of a separate country for the Muslims of India was approved. Fazlul Huq expressed this historical resolution. Gandhi called the Lahore Resolution “baffling”, but he told his supporters that the Muslims, just like other people of India, had equal rights. Jawaharlal Nehru cited the Lahore resolution as “Jinnah’s incredible proposals”. Chakravarti considered Jinnah’s perspectives for a separate state as “an indication of a diseased mentality”.
Elections (1945, 1946) & League’s Accomplishment
The Muslim League just had one objective. They proclaimed to work on an individual issue; Pakistan. In Ahmedabad, Jinnah said, “Pakistan is a matter of life or death for us.” In the December 1945 elections for the Constituent Assembly of India, the Muslim League gained a victory in every seat dedicated for Muslims of British India. While in the regional elections in January 1946, the Muslim League grabbed 75% of the Muslim vote than the elections of 1937. Jinnah’s biographer Bolitho said, “This was Jinnah’s delightful time, his complicated political movements, his powerful beliefs, and statements finally succeeded.
Cabinet Mission 1946
In February 1946, the British Cabinet sent a commission to India to reconcile with leaders of Indian organizations. This Cabinet Mission comprised Cripps and Pethick-Lawrence. A bit of negotiation was done because of the elections in India. This negotiation said that The British might send out a strategy for a collective Indian state which would consist of provinces founded on religion. But the main motives such as defense, external associations, and communications would be under the government of the central parliament.
Although provinces might depart the government entirely, there would be a provisional council. Muslim League accepted this proposal in June, but it fell apart over the question of how many members of the interim government the Congress and the League would have, and over the Congress’s desire to include a Muslim member in its representation. The British ministers declared that they aspired to establish a provisional parliament even if one of the prominent groups didn’t want to participate in the proposal.
Mountbatten and Independence
On 20 February 1947, Mountbatten was appointed in British India. It was announced that the British government would transfer authority to India. And the final plan was given by the Viceroy to Indian leaders on 2 June. They declared that on 15 August, the British gave authority to the two empires. The provinces would elect according to their wish. Whether they want to live in the existing state or to have a new one. Bengal and Punjab would also vote to join India or separate. Also, the boundary commission would specify the final lines in the separate territories.
Plebiscites would take place in the North-West Frontier Province (which did not have a League government despite an overwhelmingly Muslim population), and in the majority-Muslim Sylhet district of Assam, adjacent to eastern Bengal. On 3 June, Mountbatten, Nehru, Jinnah, and Sikh leader Baldev Singh formulated the proper declaration of separation by radio. Jinnah finalized his speech with “Pakistan Zindabad”. Punjab and Bengal cast the votes for partition. At last, Pakistan came into being as an independent state on the 14th of August 1947. Jinnah governed the festivities for independence in Karachi.
Jinnah’s Illness, Death & Resting Place
Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis from the 1930s. Only Fatima Jinnah and a few other close colleagues were familiar with his situation. He thought if the public knew about his illness they would be down politically. Therefore, in June 1948, Jinnah and Fatima went to Quetta, where the weather was stiffer than in Karachi. He came back to address the officers at the Command and Staff College. He said, “you, along with the other Forces of Pakistan, are the stewards of the life, property, and honor of the people of Pakistan”. He returned to Karachi on 1st July at the opening ceremony of the State Bank of Pakistan. Later, on 9th September 1948, Jinnah also suffered from pneumonia.
Doctors suggested he must return to Karachi for better care. He was transferred to Government House. Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed away at 10:20 pm in Karachi on 11 September 1948 at the age of 71. He passed away just a year after the creation of Pakistan. Jinnah was laid to rest on 12 September 1948 amid an official funeral in both India and Pakistan. Millions of people assembled for his funeral. Indian Governor-General Rajagopalachari canceled an official gathering that day. Today, Jinnah rests in a tomb named as Mazar-e-Quaid, in Karachi. May his soul rest in peace!
Stanley Wolpert describes the deep impact imposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the world:
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December 22, 2021 at 11:56 pm