Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Difference between revisions

{{Featured article}}

{{Use Pakistani English|date=September 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name                = Muhammad Ali Jinnah<br />{{nobold|{{lang|ur|{{Nastaliq|محمد علی جناح}}}}}}

| successor1          = [[Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan]]

| successor2          = ''Office abolished''

| birth_name          = Mahomedali Jinnahbhai

| relations          = See [[Jinnah family]]

| children            = [[Dina Wadia]]

| term_start          = 14 August 1947

| term_end            = 11 September 1948

| term_end2          = 11 September 1948

}}

{{Muhammad Ali Jinnah sidebar}}

As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah worked to establish the new nation's government and policies, and to aid the millions of [[Muhajir (Urdu-speaking people)|Muslim migrants]] who had emigrated from neighbouring [[Dominion of India|India]] to Pakistan after the [[Partition of India|two states' independence]], personally supervising the establishment of refugee camps. Jinnah died at age 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained independence from the United Kingdom. He left a deep and respected legacy in Pakistan. Innumerable streets, roads and localities in the world are named after Jinnah. Several [[List of things named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah|universities and public buildings]] in Pakistan bear Jinnah's name. According to his biographer, [[Stanley Wolpert]], Jinnah remains Pakistan's greatest leader.

{{See also|Jinnah family}}

[[File:Jinnah Poonjha.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait of Jinnah's father, Jinnahbhai Poonja]]

=== Education in England ===

At the age of 20, Jinnah began his practice in Bombay, the only Muslim barrister in the city.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=3}} English had become his principal language and would remain so throughout his life.  His first three years in the law, from 1897 to 1900, brought him few briefs. His first step towards a brighter career occurred when the acting [[Advocate General]] of Bombay, John Molesworth MacPherson, invited Jinnah to work from his chambers.{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=14–17}}{{sfn|Wolpert|p=17}}<!-- The anecdote is in pages numbered nearly identically in both books. --> In 1900, P. H. Dastoor, a [[Bombay Presidency#Administration|Bombay presidency magistrate]], left the post temporarily and Jinnah succeeded in getting the interim position. After his six-month appointment period, Jinnah was offered a permanent position on a 1,500 rupee per month salary. Jinnah politely declined the offer, stating that he planned to earn 1,500 rupees a day—a huge sum at that time—which he eventually did.{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=14–17}}{{sfn|Wolpert|p=17}}{{sfn|Ahmed|pp=4–5}}  Nevertheless, as [[Governor-General of Pakistan]], he would refuse to accept a large salary, fixing it at 1 [[Pakistani rupee|rupee]] per month.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=212}}

One of Jinnah's fellow barristers from the Bombay High Court remembered that "Jinnah's faith in himself was incredible"; he recalled that on being admonished by a judge with "Mr. Jinnah, remember that you are not addressing a third-class magistrate", Jinnah shot back, "My Lord, allow me to warn you that you are not addressing a third-class pleader."{{sfn|Bolitho|p=17}}  Another of his fellow barristers described him, saying:

=== Trade unionist ===

=== Rising leader ===

In 1918, Jinnah married his second wife [[Rattanbai Petit]] ("Ruttie"), 24 years his junior. She was the fashionable young daughter of his friend [[Petit baronets#Petit Baronets, of Petit Hall (1890)|Sir Dinshaw Petit]], and was part of an elite [[Parsi people|Parsi]] family of Bombay.<ref name="Mehmood p725" /> There was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai's family and the Parsi community, as well as from some Muslim religious leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally [[converted to Islam]], adopting (though never using) the name Maryam Jinnah, resulting in a permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided at [[South Court|South Court Mansion]] in Bombay, and frequently travelled across India and Europe. The couple's only child, daughter [[Dina Wadia|Dina]], was born on 15 August 1919.<ref name="Mehmood p725" /> The couple separated prior to Ruttie's death in 1929, and subsequently Jinnah's sister [[Fatima Jinnah|Fatima]] looked after him and his child.{{sfn|Ahmed|pp=11–15}}

== Wilderness years; interlude in England ==

After Baldwin was defeated at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 British parliamentary election]], [[Ramsay MacDonald]] of the [[Labour Party (United Kingdom)|Labour Party]] became prime minister. MacDonald desired a conference of Indian and British leaders in London to discuss India's future, a course of action supported by Jinnah. Three [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table Conferences]] followed over as many years, none of which resulted in a settlement.  Jinnah was a delegate to the first two conferences, but was not invited to the last.{{sfn|Singh|p=170}}  He remained in Britain for most of the period 1930 through 1934, practising as a barrister before the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council|Privy Council]], where he dealt with a number of India-related cases. His biographers disagree over why he remained so long in Britain—Wolpert asserts that had Jinnah been made a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary|Law Lord]], he would have stayed for life, and that Jinnah alternatively sought a parliamentary seat.{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=99–100}}{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=119–130}}  Early biographer [[Hector Bolitho]] denied that Jinnah sought to enter the British Parliament,{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=99–100}} while Jaswant Singh deems Jinnah's time in Britain as a break or sabbatical from the Indian struggle.{{sfn|Singh|p=172}}  Bolitho called this period "Jinnah's years of order and contemplation, wedged in between the time of early struggle, and the final storm of conquest".{{sfn|Bolitho|p=102}}

== Return to politics ==

According to [[Jaswant Singh]], "the events of 1937 had a tremendous, almost a traumatic effect upon Jinnah".{{sfn|Singh|p=188}} Despite his beliefs of twenty years that Muslims could protect their rights in a united India through separate electorates, provincial boundaries drawn to preserve Muslim majorities, and by other protections of minority rights, Muslim voters had failed to unite, with the issues Jinnah hoped to bring forward lost amid factional fighting.{{sfn|Singh|p=188}}{{sfn|Jalal|p=35}} Singh notes the effect of the 1937 elections on Muslim political opinion, "when the Congress formed a government with almost all of the Muslim [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLAs]] sitting on the Opposition benches, non-Congress Muslims were suddenly faced with this stark reality of near-total political powerlessness. It was brought home to them, like a bolt of lightning, that even if the Congress did not win a single Muslim seat&nbsp;... as long as it won an absolute majority in the House, on the strength of the general seats, it could and would form a government entirely on its own&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Singh|p=198}}

== Struggle for Pakistan ==

=== Background to independence ===

Although many leaders of the Congress sought a strong central government for an Indian state, some Muslim politicians, including Jinnah, were unwilling to accept this without powerful protections for their community.{{sfn|Moore|p=532}}  Other Muslims supported the Congress, which officially advocated a secular state upon independence, though the traditionalist wing (including politicians such as [[Madan Mohan Malaviya]] and [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]) believed that an independent India should enact laws such as banning the killing of cows and making [[Hindi]] a national language.  The failure of the Congress leadership to disavow Hindu [[Communalism (South Asia)|communalists]] worried Congress-supporting Muslims.  Nevertheless, the Congress enjoyed considerable Muslim support up to about 1937.{{sfn|Hibbard|pp=121–124}}

Balraj Puri in his journal article about Jinnah suggests that the Muslim League president, after the 1937 vote, turned to the idea of partition in "sheer desperation".{{sfn|Puri|p=35}} Historian [[Akbar S. Ahmed]] suggests that Jinnah abandoned hope of reconciliation with the Congress as he "rediscover[ed] his own Islamic roots, his own sense of identity, of culture and history, which would come increasingly to the fore in the final years of his life".{{sfn|Ahmed|p=26}} Jinnah also increasingly adopted Muslim dress in the late 1930s.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=8}} In the wake of the 1937 balloting, Jinnah demanded that the question of power sharing be settled on an all-India basis, and that he, as president of the League, be accepted as the sole spokesman for the Muslim community.{{sfn|Singh|p=200}}

| source = [[Muhammad Iqbal]], 1938<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allamaiqbal.com/person/movement/move_main.htm |title=Iqbal and Pakistan Movement |publisher=Allamaiqbal.com |access-date=31 October 2017}}</ref>}}

[[File:Jinnah with Iqbal.jpg|thumb|Jinnah seated with Iqbal at the round table conference]]

The well documented influence of Iqbal on Jinnah, with regard to taking the lead in creating Pakistan, has been described as "significant", "powerful" and even "unquestionable" by scholars.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paul |first1=T. |year=2014 |title=The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYBeAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |pages=37–38 |isbn=978-0-19-932223-7 |quote=Iqbal wrote several letters to Jinnah in 1937 persuading him to take the lead in creating Pakistan... These correspondences would change the way Jinnah would look at the issue of a separate homeland for Muslims.}}<br />{{cite book|last1=Kenworthy|first1=Leonard|year=1968|title=Leaders of New Nations|url=https://archive.org/details/leadersofnewnati00kenw|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/leadersofnewnati00kenw/page/230 230]|quote=Iqbal's influence was perhaps the most powerful in Jinnah's decision to support the partition|publisher=Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday}}<br />{{cite book|last1=Iqbal|first1=Khurshid|year=2009|title=The Right to Development in International Law: The Case of Pakistan|series=Routledge Research in Human Rights Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SDx9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT220|isbn=978-1-134-01998-4|quote=Jinnah's views were significantly influenced by the ideas of Muhammad Iqbal}}<br />{{cite journal|last1=Khan|first1=Zamir|date=30 June 2010|title=Iqbal and Quaid's Vision of Pakistan|journal=The Dialogue|volume=V |issue=2|page=151|url=http://www.qurtuba.edu.pk/thedialogue/The%20Dialogue/5_2/Dialogue_April_June2010_136-164.pdf|quote=Iqbal's influence on Jinnah is unquestionable}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Shah|first1=Mujawar|title=Religion and Politics in Pakistan: 1972–88|date=1996|page=35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRbXAAAAMAAJ&q=iqbal+influence|isbn=9789698329013|quote=Iqbal's correspondence with Jinnah also played an important role in formulating his course of action}}<br />{{cite journal|title=The Concept|journal=Pakistani Periodicals|year=2006|volume=26|issue=1–6|page=21|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-NtAAAAMAAJ&q=influenced+|quote=Certainly these views influenced Mr Jinnah to declare urgently a solid solution to the Indian constitutional problem by projecting Muslims as a separate body}}<br />{{cite book|last1=Naik|first1=Vasant|year=1947|title=Mr. Jinnah: A Political Study|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4b9fS1kA4aMC&q=jinnah+iqbal+influence|quote=the biographer of Jinnah admits 'that these letters of Iqbal exercised influence on the mind of Mohamed Ali Jinnah.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Saleena Karim|title=Secular Jinnah & Pakistan: What the Nation Doesn't Know|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGiuSgAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Checkpoint Press|isbn=978-1-906628-22-2|page=25}}</ref> Iqbal has also been cited as an influential force in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London and re-enter the politics of India.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ziring |first1=Lawrence |year=1980 |title=Pakistan: The Enigma of Political Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgSOAAAAMAAJ&q=%22it+was+Iqbal+who+encouraged+Jinnah+to+return+to+India.%22 |page=67 |isbn=978-0-7129-0954-9 |quote=It was Iqbal who encouraged Jinnah to return to India}}<br />{{cite book|last1=Aziz|first1=Qutubuddin|year=2001|title=Jinnah and Pakistan|page=98|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wluAAAAMAAJ|quote=Iqbal's persuasive letter to Jinnah in London to return to India and undertake the leadership of the Muslim League....undoubtedly contributed to Jinnah's eventual decision to return to India permanently}}<br />{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Iqbal|year=1951|title=The Ardent Pilgrim: An Introduction to the Life and Work of Mohammed Iqbal|page=153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_pjAAAAMAAJ|isbn=978-0-19-563979-7|quote=Iqbal was indirectly responsible for Jinnah's return to India from London}}<br />{{cite encyclopedia |title=Global Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophy |year=2010 |publisher=Global Vision Publishing House |pages=342 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7xOAQAAIAAJ|isbn=9788182202948 |quote=Iqbal was an influential force in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London.}}</ref> Initially, however, Iqbal and Jinnah were opponents, as Iqbal believed Jinnah did not care about the crises confronting the Muslim community during the British Raj. According to [[Akbar S. Ahmed]], this began to change during Iqbal's final years prior to his death in 1938. Iqbal gradually succeeded in converting Jinnah over to his view, who eventually accepted Iqbal as his ''"mentor"''. Ahmed comments that in his annotations to Iqbal's letters, Jinnah expressed solidarity with Iqbal's view: that Indian Muslims required a separate homeland.{{sfn|Ahmed|pp=62–73}}

=== Second World War and Lahore Resolution ===

On 3 September 1939, British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] announced the commencement of war with [[Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Bolitho|p=123}} The following day, the Viceroy, [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|Lord Linlithgow]], without consulting Indian political leaders, announced that India had entered the war along with Britain. There were widespread protests in India. After meeting with Jinnah and with Gandhi, Linlithgow announced that negotiations on self-government were suspended for the duration of the war.{{sfn|Singh|p=223}} The Congress on 14 September demanded immediate independence with a constituent assembly to decide a constitution; when this was refused, its eight provincial governments resigned on 10 November and governors in those provinces thereafter ruled by decree for the remainder of the war.  Jinnah, on the other hand, was more willing to accommodate the British, and they in turn increasingly recognised him and the League as the representatives of India's Muslims.{{sfn|Jalal|pp=47–49}} Jinnah later stated, "after the war began,&nbsp;... I was treated on the same basis as Mr Gandhi. I was wonderstruck why I was promoted and given a place side by side with Mr Gandhi."{{sfn|Singh|pp=225–226}} Although the League did not actively support the British war effort, neither did they try to obstruct it.{{sfn|Singh|p=225}}

[[File:Jinnah and Gandhi.jpg|thumb|left|Jinnah and Gandhi arguing in 1939]]

With the British and Muslims to some extent co-operating, the Viceroy asked Jinnah for an expression of the Muslim League's position on self-government, confident that it would differ greatly from that of the Congress. To come up with such a position, the League's Working Committee met for four days in February 1940 to set out terms of reference to a constitutional sub-committee. The Working Committee asked that the sub-committee return with a proposal that would result in "independent dominions in direct relationship with Great Britain" where Muslims were dominant.{{sfn|Jalal|pp=51–55}}  On 6 February, Jinnah informed the Viceroy that the Muslim League would be demanding partition instead of the federation contemplated in the 1935 Act. The [[Lahore Resolution]] (sometimes called the "Pakistan Resolution", although it does not contain that name), based on the sub-committee's work, embraced the [[Two-Nation Theory]] and called for a union of the Muslim-majority provinces in the northwest of British India, with complete autonomy. Similar rights were to be granted to the Muslim-majority areas in the east, and unspecified protections given to Muslim minorities in other provinces. The resolution was passed by the League session in [[Lahore]] on 23 March 1940.{{sfn|Singh|pp=232–233}}{{sfn|Jalal|pp=54–58}}

[[File:Jinnah addresses the delegates to the Moslem Political Convention held in New Delhi during 1943 (Photo 429-8).jpg|thumb|left|Jinnah makes a speech in New Delhi, 1943]]

Gandhi's reaction to the Lahore Resolution was muted; he called it "baffling", but told his disciples that Muslims, in common with other people of India, had the right to self-determination.  Leaders of the Congress were more vocal; [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] referred to Lahore as "Jinnah's fantastic proposals" while [[Chakravarti Rajagopalachari]] deemed Jinnah's views on partition "a sign of a diseased mentality".{{sfn|Wolpert|p=185}} Linlithgow met with Jinnah in June 1940,{{sfn|Wolpert|p=189}} soon after [[Winston Churchill]] became the British prime minister, and in August offered both the Congress and the League a deal whereby in exchange for full support for the war, Linlithgow would allow Indian representation on his major war councils. The Viceroy promised a representative body after the war to determine India's future, and that no future settlement would be imposed over the objections of a large part of the population. This was satisfactory to neither the Congress nor the League, though Jinnah was pleased that the British had moved towards recognising Jinnah as the representative of the Muslim community's interests.{{sfn|Jalal|pp=62–63}} Jinnah was reluctant to make specific proposals as to the boundaries of Pakistan, or its relationships with Britain and with the rest of the subcontinent, fearing that any precise plan would divide the League.{{sfn|Moore|p=551}}

=== Mountbatten and independence ===

[[File:Mountbatten Jinnah.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]] and his wife [[Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma|Edwina Mountbatten]] with Jinnah in 1947]]

On 20 February 1947, Attlee announced Mountbatten's appointment, and that Britain would transfer power in India not later than June 1948.{{sfn|Jalal|p=237}} Mountbatten took office as Viceroy on 24 March 1947, two days after his arrival in India.{{sfn|Khan|p=87}} By then, the Congress had come around to the idea of partition. Nehru stated in 1960, "the truth is that we were tired men and we were getting on in years&nbsp;... The plan for partition offered a way out and we took it."{{sfn|Khan|pp=85–87}}  Leaders of the Congress decided that having loosely tied Muslim-majority provinces as part of a future India was not worth the loss of the powerful government at the centre which they desired.{{sfn|Khan|pp=85–86}} However, the Congress insisted that if Pakistan were to become independent, Bengal and Punjab would have to be divided.{{sfn|Wolpert|p=312}}

The [[Radcliffe Commission]], dividing Bengal and Punjab, completed its work and reported to Mountbatten on 12 August; the last Viceroy held the maps until the 17th, not wanting to spoil the independence celebrations in both nations. There had already been ethnically charged violence and movement of populations; publication of the [[Radcliffe Line]] dividing the new nations sparked mass migration, murder, and [[ethnic cleansing]]. Many on the "wrong side" of the lines fled or were murdered, or murdered others, hoping to make facts on the ground which would reverse the commission's verdict.  Radcliffe wrote in his report that he knew that neither side would be happy with his award; he declined his fee for the work.{{sfn|Khan|pp=124–127}}  Christopher Beaumont, Radcliffe's private secretary, later wrote that Mountbatten "must take the blame—though not the sole blame—for the massacres in the Punjab in which between 500,000 to a million men, women and children perished".<ref name="lawson" /> As many as 14,500,000 people relocated between India and Pakistan during and after partition.<ref name="lawson" /> Jinnah did what he could for the eight million people who migrated to Pakistan; although by now over 70 and frail from lung ailments, he travelled across [[West Pakistan]] and personally supervised the provision of aid.{{sfn|Malik|p=131}} According to Ahmed, "What Pakistan needed desperately in those early months was a symbol of the state, one that would unify people and give them the courage and resolve to succeed."{{sfn|Ahmed|p=145}}

Along with Liaquat and [[Abdur Rab Nishtar]], Jinnah represented Pakistan's interests in the Division Council to appropriately divide public assets between India and Pakistan.{{sfn|RGandhi|p=416}} Pakistan was supposed to receive one-sixth of the pre-independence government's assets, carefully divided by agreement, even specifying how many sheets of paper each side would receive. The new Indian state, however, was slow to deliver, hoping for the collapse of the nascent Pakistani government, and reunion.  Few members of the [[Indian Civil Service]] and the [[Indian Police Service]] had chosen Pakistan, resulting in staff shortages.  Partition meant that for some farmers, the markets to sell their crops were on the other side of an international border. There were shortages of machinery, not all of which was made in Pakistan. In addition to the massive refugee problem, the new government sought to save abandoned crops, establish security in a chaotic situation, and provide basic services. According to economist Yasmeen Niaz Mohiuddin in her study of Pakistan, "although Pakistan was born in bloodshed and turmoil, it survived in the initial and difficult months after partition only because of the tremendous sacrifices made by its people and the selfless efforts of its great leader."{{sfn|Mohiuddin|pp=78–79}}

The most contentious of the disputes was, and continues to be, that over the [[Kashmir and Jammu (princely state)|princely state of Kashmir]]. It had a Muslim-majority population and a Hindu [[maharaja]], Sir [[Hari Singh]], who stalled his decision on which nation to join.  With the population in revolt in October 1947, aided by Pakistani irregulars, the maharaja [[Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)|acceded to India]]; Indian troops were airlifted in.  Jinnah objected to this action, and ordered that Pakistani troops move into Kashmir. The [[Pakistani Army]] was still commanded by British officers, and the commanding officer, General Sir [[Douglas Gracey]], refused the order, stating that he would not move into what he considered the territory of another nation without approval from higher authority, which was not forthcoming. Jinnah withdrew the order. This did not stop the violence there, which broke into [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]].{{sfn|Malik|pp=131–132}}{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=347–351}}

In January 1948, the Indian government finally agreed to pay Pakistan its share of British India's assets. They were impelled by Gandhi, who threatened a fast until death. Only days later, on 30 January, [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi was assassinated]] by [[Nathuram Godse]], a Hindu nationalist, who believed that Gandhi was pro-Muslim. After hearing about Gandhi's murder on the following day, Jinnah publicly made a brief statement of condolence, calling Gandhi "one of the greatest men produced by the Hindu community".{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=357–358}}

In June 1948, he and Fatima flew to [[Quetta]], in the mountains of Balochistan, where the weather was cooler than in Karachi. He could not completely rest there, addressing the officers at the [[Pakistan Command and Staff College|Command and Staff College]] saying, "you, along with the other Forces of Pakistan, are the custodians of the life, property and honour of the people of Pakistan."{{sfn|Wolpert|p=361}} He returned to Karachi for the 1 July opening ceremony for the [[State Bank of Pakistan]], at which he spoke. A reception by the Canadian trade commissioner that evening in honour of [[Canada Day|Dominion Day]] was the last public event he attended.{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=361–362}}

On 6 July 1948, Jinnah returned to Quetta, but at the advice of doctors, soon journeyed to [[Quaid-e-Azam Residency|an even higher retreat]] at [[Ziarat]].  Jinnah had always been reluctant to undergo medical treatment but realising his condition was getting worse, the Pakistani government sent the best doctors it could find to treat him. Tests confirmed tuberculosis, and also showed evidence of advanced lung cancer. He was treated with the new "miracle drug" of [[streptomycin]], but it did not help. Jinnah's condition continued to deteriorate despite the [[Eid prayer]]s of his people. He was moved to the lower altitude of Quetta on 13 August, the eve of [[Independence Day (Pakistan)|Independence Day]], for which a ghost-written statement for him was released.  Despite an increase in appetite (he then weighed just over {{convert|36|kg|lb|abbr=off|disp=or}}), it was clear to his doctors that if he was to return to Karachi in life, he would have to do so very soon. Jinnah, however, was reluctant to go, not wishing his aides to see him as an invalid on a stretcher.{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=366–368}}

After Jinnah died, his sister Fatima asked the court to execute Jinnah's will under [[Shia]] Islamic law.<ref name="secularm" /> This subsequently became part of the argument in Pakistan about Jinnah's religious affiliation. [[Vali Nasr]] says Jinnah "was an Ismaili by birth and a [[Twelver Shia]] by confession, though not a religiously observant man."<ref name="shi3a" /> In a 1970 legal challenge, Hussain Ali Ganji Walji claimed Jinnah had converted to Sunni Islam. Witness Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada stated in court that Jinnah converted to Sunni Islam in 1901 when his sisters married Sunnis. In 1970, Liaquat Ali Khan and Fatima Jinnah's joint affidavit that Jinnah was Shia was rejected. But in 1976 the court rejected Walji's claim that Jinnah was Sunni; effectively accepting him as a [[Shia]]. In 1984 a high court bench reversed the 1976 verdict and maintained that "the ''Quaid'' was definitely not a Shia", which suggested that Jinnah was Sunni.<ref name="Sunni" /> According to the journalist Khaled Ahmed, Jinnah publicly had a non-sectarian stance and "was at pains to gather the Muslims of India under the banner of a general Muslim faith and not under a divisive sectarian identity." Liaquat H. Merchant, Jinnah's grandnephew, writes that "the Quaid was not a Shia; he was also not a Sunni, he was simply a Muslim".<ref name="secularm" /> An eminent lawyer who practised in the Bombay High Court until 1940 testified that Jinnah used to pray as an orthodox Sunni.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=195}} According to [[Akbar Ahmed]], Jinnah became a firm Sunni Muslim by the end of his life.<ref name="Ahmed2005p4" />

== Legacy ==

[[File:Tomb Jinnah.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Mazar-e-Quaid|Tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] in Karachi]]

According to Jaswant Singh, "With Jinnah's death Pakistan lost its moorings. In India there will not easily arrive another Gandhi, nor in Pakistan another Jinnah."{{sfn|Singh|p=406}} Malik writes, "As long as Jinnah was alive, he could persuade and even pressure regional leaders toward greater mutual accommodation, but after his death, the lack of consensus on the distribution of political power and economic resources often turned controversial."{{sfn|Malik|p=134}} According to Mohiuddin, "Jinnah's death deprived Pakistan of a leader who could have enhanced stability and democratic governance&nbsp;... The rocky road to democracy in Pakistan and the relatively smooth one in India can in some measure be ascribed to Pakistan's tragedy of losing an incorruptible and highly revered leader so soon after independence."{{sfn|Mohiuddin|pp=81–82}}

[[File:Yorkstatue.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Statue of Jinnah at [[York University]] in Toronto]]

[[File:Jinnah blue plaque.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Blue Plaque]] in London dedicated to Jinnah]]

According to historian [[Ayesha Jalal]], while there is a tendency towards [[hagiography]] in the Pakistani view of Jinnah, in India he is viewed negatively.{{sfn|Jalal|p=221}}  Ahmed deems Jinnah "the most maligned person in recent Indian history&nbsp;... In India, many see him as the demon who divided the land."{{sfn|Ahmed|p=27}}  Even many Indian Muslims see Jinnah negatively, blaming him for their woes as a minority in that state.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=28}} Some historians such as Jalal and [[H. M. Seervai]] assert that Jinnah never wanted the partition of India—it was the outcome of the Congress leaders being unwilling to share power with the Muslim League. They contend that Jinnah only used the Pakistan demand in an attempt to mobilise support to obtain significant political rights for Muslims.<ref name="Seervai p127" /> [[Francis Mudie]], the last British [[Governor of Sindh]], in Jinnah's honour once said:

| footer = Jinnah's portraits on the stamps of Turkmenistan and Iran

}}

Jinnah has gained the admiration of Indian nationalist politicians such as [[Lal Krishna Advani]], whose comments praising Jinnah caused an uproar in his [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP).<ref name="advani" /> Indian politician [[Jaswant Singh]]'s book ''[[Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence]]'' (2009) caused controversy in India.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8211038.stm|title=India state bans book on Jinnah |date=20 August 2009|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=20 August 2009}}</ref> The book was based on Jinnah's ideology and alleged that Nehru's desire for a powerful centre led to Partition.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://jaibihar.com/nehru-patel-conceded-pakistan-to-jinnah-jaswant/11301/ |title=Nehru not Jinnah's polity led to partition |publisher=Jai Bihar |access-date=19 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822004045/http://jaibihar.com/nehru-patel-conceded-pakistan-to-jinnah-jaswant/11301/ |archive-date=22 August 2009 }}</ref> Upon the book release, Singh was expelled from his membership of Bharatiya Janata Party, to which he responded that BJP is "narrow-minded" and has "limited thoughts".<ref name="LiveMint">{{cite news|url=http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/19224542/BJP-expels-Jaswant-Singh-over.html|title=BJP expels Jaswant Singh over praise for Jinnah in his book|last=Joy|first=Santosh|date=19 August 2009|work=LiveMint |access-date=20 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224018/https://www.livemint.com/Politics/SErCZ0ewVhfPabjq7ie2MK/BJP-expels-Jaswant-Singh-over-praise-for-Jinnah-in-his-book.html |archive-date=15 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://jaibihar.com/jaswant-singh-expelled-over-jinnah-remarks/11454/ |title=Jaswant Singh expelled over Jinnah remarks |date=19 August 2009 |publisher=Jai Bihar|access-date=19 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821162128/http://jaibihar.com/jaswant-singh-expelled-over-jinnah-remarks/11454/ |archive-date=21 August 2009 }}</ref>

The view of Jinnah in the West has been shaped to some extent by his portrayal in Sir [[Richard Attenborough]]'s 1982 film, ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]''. The film was dedicated to Nehru and Mountbatten and was given considerable support by Nehru's daughter, the Indian prime minister, [[Indira Gandhi]]. It portrays Jinnah (played by [[Alyque Padamsee]]) in an unflattering light, who seems to act out of jealousy of Gandhi. Padamsee later stated that his portrayal was not historically accurate.{{sfn|Ahmed|pp=28–29}} In a journal article on Pakistan's first governor-general, historian R. J. Moore wrote that Jinnah is universally recognised as central to the creation of Pakistan.{{sfn|Moore|pp=529–569}} [[Stanley Wolpert]] summarises the profound effect that Jinnah had on the world:

| Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad<!-- That's how he spells it! --> Ali Jinnah did all three.{{sfn|Wolpert|p=vii}}

}}

== See also ==

*[[List of peace activists]]

*[[List of civil rights leaders]]

{{notes}}

{{reflist

| colwidth = 20em

| refs =

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| last = Gauba

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ktpwb-vReWMC

| page = 155

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| last = Chagla

| year = 2011

| isbn = 9788172764470

| last = Desai

| first = Anjali

| isbn = 978-0-9789517-0-2

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gZRLGZNZEoEC&pg=PA24

| title = The Lawyer: Bombay (1896–1910)

| first = Government of Pakistan

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060127232421/http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/lawyer3.htm

| archive-date = 27 January 2006

| title = The Statesman: Jinnah's differences with the Congress

| first = Government of Pakistan

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060127234847/http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/politician7.htm

| archive-date = 27 January 2006

| last = Talbot

| first = Ian

| url = http://www.historytoday.com/ian-talbot/jinnah-and-making-pakistan

| access-date = 26 October 2012

| last = Lawson

| first = Alastair

|publisher=BBC News| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6926464.stm

| access-date = 15 August 2012

  |title      = Profile of Fatima Jinnah

  |publisher  = Fatima Jinnah Official website

  |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130311105035/http://www.fatimajinnah.com/index.php?page=profile

  |archive-date = 11 March 2013

| title = Dina seeks Jinnah House's possession

| date = 25 May 2005

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101029083102/http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/25/top14.htm

| archive-date = 29 October 2010

| last = Sitapati

| first = Vinay

| work = The Indian Express

| access-date = 22 April 2010

  |first      = Khaled

  |last        = Ahmed

  |date        = 23 May 1998

  |work        = The Indian Express

  |url        = http://www.financialexpress.com/old/ie/daily/19980523/14350814.html

  |access-date  = 4 May 2012

  |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130515043103/http://www.financialexpress.com/old/ie/daily/19980523/14350814.html

  |archive-date = 15 May 2013

|last = Nasr

|first = Vali

| url = http://faroutliers.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/pakistans-transition-from-shia-to-sunni-leadership

| access-date = 15 November 2012

|title = Was Jinnah a Shia or Sunni?

|date = 9 May 1998

|publisher = [[United News of India]] via rediff.com

|access-date = 15 November 2012

<ref name="greatest">{{cite web

}}</ref>

| first = Syed Qasim

| last = Mehmood

| publisher = Qadir Printers

| location = Karachi

| last = Sekhar

| first = A. Saye

| work = [[The Hindu]]

| access-date = 28 October 2017

| last = Seervai

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| publisher = Oxford University Press

| isbn = 978-0-19-597719-6

  |title=Pakistan expresses shock over Advani's resignation as BJP chief

  |work=Hindustan Times

  |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1391007,001300270001.htm

  |access-date=20 April 2006

  |archive-date=9 June 2005

}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

{{refend|}}

{{refbegin|33em}}

* {{citation |author=K. R. N. Swamy|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h4RHAAAAMAAJ|title=Mughals, maharajas, and the Mahatma|date=1 December 1997|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|page=71|isbn= 978-8-17-223280-1|ref={{sfnref|Swamy|1997}}}}

* {{citation |author=Partha Sarathy Ghosh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sy-KAAAAMAAJ|title=BJP and the Evolution of Hindu Nationalism: From Periphery to Centre|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors|page=60|isbn=978-8-17-304253-9|ref={{sfnref|Ghosh|1999}}}}

{{refend}}

== External links ==

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