Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Difference between revisions

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{{Featured article}}

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

{{Infobox officeholder

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

| office              = 1st [[Governor-General of Pakistan]]

| image              = Jinnah1945c.jpg

| caption            = Jinnah in 1945

| successor          = [[Khawaja Nazimuddin]]

| signature          = Jinnah signature.svg

| party              = [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Muslim League]] (1947–1948)

| otherparty          = [[Indian National Congress]] (1906–1920)<br />[[All-India Muslim League]] (1913–1947)

| deputy1            = [[Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan]]

| predecessor1        = ''Position established''

| successor1          = [[Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan]]

| birth_name          = Mahomedali Jinnahbhai

| birth_date          = [[Jinnah's Birthday|{{birth date|df=yes|1876|12|25}}]]

| death_date          = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|df=yes|1948|09|11|1876|12|25}}}}

| death_place        = [[Karachi]], [[Federal Capital Territory (Pakistan)|Federal Capital Territory]], [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]]

| nationality        = [[British Raj|British Indian]] (1876–1947)<br />[[Pakistani people|Pakistani]] (1947–1948)

| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Emibai Jinnah]]|1892|1893|end=died}}<br />{{marriage|[[Rattanbai Petit]]|1918|1929|end=died}}

| relations          = See [[Jinnah family]]

| children            = [[Dina Wadia]]

| alma_mater          = [[Lincoln's Inn]]

| term_start          = 14 August 1947

| term_end            = 11 September 1948

| term_start1        = 11 August 1947

| term_end1          = 11 September 1948

}}

{{Muhammad Ali Jinnah sidebar}}

Born at [[Wazir Mansion]] in [[Karachi]], Jinnah was trained as a [[barrister]] at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in [[London]], England. Upon his return to [[British Raj|India]], he enrolled at the [[Bombay High Court]], and took an interest in national politics, which eventually replaced his legal practice. Jinnah rose to prominence in the [[Indian National Congress]] in the first two decades of the 20th century. In these early years of his political career, Jinnah advocated [[Hindu–Muslim unity]], helping to shape the 1916 [[Lucknow Pact]] between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, in which Jinnah had also become prominent. Jinnah became a key leader in the [[Indian Home Rule movement|All-India Home Rule League]], and proposed a [[Fourteen Points of Jinnah|fourteen-point constitutional reform plan]] to safeguard the political rights of [[Muslims]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. In 1920, however, Jinnah resigned from the Congress when it agreed to follow a campaign of ''[[satyagraha]]'', which he regarded as [[Anarchism|political anarchy]].

By 1940, Jinnah had come to believe that the Muslims of the subcontinent should have their own state to avoid the possible marginalised status they may gain in an independent Hindu–Muslim state. In that year, the Muslim League, led by Jinnah, passed the [[Lahore Resolution]], demanding a separate nation for [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|Indian]] Muslims. During the [[World War II|Second World War]], the League gained strength while leaders of the Congress were imprisoned, and in the [[1946 Indian provincial elections|provincial elections]] held shortly after the war, it won most of the seats reserved for Muslims. Ultimately, the Congress and the Muslim League could not reach a power-sharing formula that would allow the entirety of British India to be united as a single state following independence, leading all parties to agree instead to the independence of a predominantly [[Hindu]] India, and for a Muslim-majority state of Pakistan.

== Early years ==

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

As a boy, Jinnah lived for a time in Bombay with an aunt and may have attended the Gokal Das Tej Primary School there, later on studying at the [[Cathedral and John Connon School]]. In Karachi, he attended the [[Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam]] and the [[Church Mission School|Christian Missionary Society High School]].{{sfn|Singh|p=54}}{{sfn|Ahmed|p=26}}<ref name=SharifDawnRest>Sharif, Azizullah. "[http://www.dawn.com/news/521273/karachi-restoration-of-church-mission-school-ordered Karachi: Restoration of Church Mission School ordered]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20140526033854/http://www.dawn.com/news/521273/karachi-restoration-of-church-mission-school-ordered Archive]). ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]''. 20 February 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2014. "Taking notice of the highly dilapidated and bad condition of the Church Mission School (CMS) where Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had studied,[...]"</ref> He gained his matriculation from [[Bombay University]] at the high school. In his later years and especially after his death, a large number of stories about the boyhood of Pakistan's founder were circulated: that he spent all his spare time at the police court, listening to the proceedings, and that he studied his books by the glow of street lights for lack of other illumination. His official biographer, [[Hector Bolitho]], writing in 1954, interviewed surviving boyhood associates, and obtained a tale that the young Jinnah discouraged other children from playing marbles in the dust, urging them to rise up, keep their hands and clothes clean, and play cricket instead.{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=5–7}}

During his student years in England, Jinnah was influenced by 19th-century British [[classical liberalism|liberalism]], like many other future Indian independence leaders. His main intellectual references were peoples like [[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham]], [[John Stuart Mill|Mill]], [[Herbert Spencer|Spencer]], and [[Auguste Comte|Comte]].<ref>Asghar Ali Engineer, ''They Too Fought for India's Freedom: The Role of Minorities'', Hope India Publications, 2006, p. 72</ref><ref>Anil Chandra Banerjee, ''Two Nations: The Philosophy of Muslim Nationalism'', Concept Publishing Company, 1981, p. 219</ref> This political education included exposure to the idea of the democratic nation, and progressive politics.<ref name="Mehmood p725" /> He became an admirer of the [[Parsi]] British Indian political leaders [[Dadabhai Naoroji]] and [[Sir Pherozeshah Mehta]]. Naoroji had become the first British Member of Parliament of Indian extraction shortly before Jinnah's arrival, triumphing with a majority of three votes in [[Finsbury Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Finsbury Central]]. Jinnah listened to Naoroji's [[maiden speech]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] from the visitor's gallery.{{sfn|Bolitho|pp=10–12}}{{sfn|Singh|p=55}}

The Western world not only inspired Jinnah in his political life, but also greatly influenced his personal preferences, particularly when it came to dress. Jinnah abandoned local garb for Western-style clothing, and throughout his life he was always impeccably dressed in public. His suits were designed by [[Savile Row]] tailor [[Henry Poole & Co]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Ghafoor|first1=Usman|url=https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/pakistani-cinema/shahzad-noor-is-fashion-worlds-latest-show-stopper-1.62296707|title=Shahzad Noor is fashion world's latest show-stopper|work=Gulf News|date=25 February 2019|access-date=13 August 2020}}</ref> He came to own over 200 suits, which he wore with heavily starched shirts with detachable collars, and as a barrister took pride in never wearing the same silk tie twice.{{sfn|Wolpert|p=9}}  Even when he was dying, he insisted on being formally dressed, "I will not travel in my pyjamas."{{sfn|Puri|p=34}} In his later years he was usually seen wearing a [[Karakul (hat)|Karakul hat]] which subsequently came to be known as the "Jinnah cap".{{sfn|Ahmed|p=85}}

=== 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 ==

Events which separated the communities included the failed attempt to form a coalition government including the Congress and the League in the United Provinces following the 1937 election.{{sfn|Hibbard|p=124}} According to historian Ian Talbot, "The provincial Congress governments made no effort to understand and respect their Muslim populations' cultural and religious sensibilities. The Muslim League's claims that it alone could safeguard Muslim interests thus received a major boost. Significantly it was only after this period of Congress rule that it [the League] took up the demand for a Pakistan state&nbsp;..."<ref name="HistoryToday" />

=== Iqbal's influence on Jinnah ===

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}}

In a speech in 1940, two years after the death of Iqbal, Jinnah expressed his preference for implementing Iqbal's vision for an Islamic Pakistan even if it meant he himself would never lead a nation. Jinnah stated, "If I live to see the ideal of a Muslim state being achieved in India, and I was then offered to make a choice between the works of Iqbal and the rulership of the Muslim state, I would prefer the former."<ref>{{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=152|url=http://www.qurtuba.edu.pk/thedialogue/The%20Dialogue/5_2/Dialogue_April_June2010_136-164.pdf}}</ref>

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}}

[[File:Photograph of Jinnah with Gandhi in 1944 (Photo 429-17).jpg|thumb|right|Jinnah with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in Bombay, 1944]]

In September 1944, Jinnah hosted Gandhi, recently released from confinement, at his home on [[Malabar Hill]] in Bombay. Two weeks of talks between them followed, which resulted in no agreement. Jinnah insisted on Pakistan being conceded prior to the British departure and to come into being immediately, while Gandhi proposed that plebiscites on partition occur sometime after a united India gained its independence.{{sfn|Singh|pp=266–280}} In early 1945, Liaquat and the Congress leader [[Bhulabhai Desai]] met, with Jinnah's approval, and agreed that after the war, the Congress and the League should form an interim government with the members of the Executive Council of the Viceroy to be nominated by the Congress and the League in equal numbers. When the Congress leadership were released from prison in June 1945, they repudiated the agreement and censured Desai for acting without proper authority.{{sfn|Singh|pp=280–283}}

=== Postwar ===

British voters returned [[Clement Attlee]] and his Labour Party [[Attlee ministry|to government]] later in July. Attlee and his Secretary of State for India, Lord [[Frederick Pethick-Lawrence]], immediately ordered a review of the Indian situation.{{sfn|Jalal|p=132}} Jinnah had no comment on the change of government, but called a meeting of his Working Committee and issued a statement calling for new elections in India. The League held influence at the provincial level in the Muslim-majority states mostly by alliance, and Jinnah believed that, given the opportunity, the League would improve its electoral standing and lend added support to his claim to be the sole spokesman for the Muslims. Wavell returned to India in September after consultation with his new masters in London; elections, both for the centre and for the provinces, were announced soon after. The British indicated that formation of a constitution-making body would follow the votes.{{sfn|Singh|pp=301–302}}

The Congress soon joined the new Indian ministry. The League was slower to do so, not entering until October 1946. In agreeing to have the League join the government, Jinnah abandoned his demands for parity with the Congress and a veto on matters concerning Muslims. The new ministry met amid a backdrop of rioting, especially [[Direct Action Day|in Calcutta]].{{sfn|Jalal|pp=221–225}} The Congress wanted the Viceroy to immediately summon the constituent assembly and begin the work of writing a constitution and felt that the League ministers should either join in the request or resign from the government. Wavell attempted to save the situation by flying leaders such as Jinnah, Liaquat, and Jawaharlal Nehru to London in December 1946. At the end of the talks, participants issued a statement that the constitution would not be forced on any unwilling parts of India.{{sfn|Jalal|pp=229–231}} On the way back from London, Jinnah and Liaquat stopped in Cairo for several days of pan-Islamic meetings.{{sfn|Wolpert|p=305}}

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}}

Jinnah feared that at the end of the British presence in the subcontinent, they would turn control over to the Congress-dominated constituent assembly, putting Muslims at a disadvantage in attempting to win autonomy. He demanded that Mountbatten divide [[British Indian Army|the army]] prior to independence, which would take at least a year. Mountbatten had hoped that the post-independence arrangements would include a common defence force, but Jinnah saw it as essential that a sovereign state should have its own forces. Mountbatten met with Liaquat the day of his final session with Jinnah, and concluded, as he told Attlee and the Cabinet in May, that "it had become clear that the Muslim League would resort to arms if Pakistan in some form were not conceded."{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=319–325}}{{sfn|Jalal|pp=249–259}}  The Viceroy was also influenced by negative Muslim reaction to the constitutional report of the assembly, which envisioned broad powers for the post-independence central government.{{sfn|Jalal|pp=261–262}}

[[File:Jinnah announces the creation of Pakistan over All India Radio.jpg|thumb|left|Jinnah announcing the creation of Pakistan over [[All India Radio]] on 3 June 1947]]

== Governor-General ==

[[File:Jinnah speaking on 14 August 1947.jpg|thumb|Jinnah speaking at the [[Constituent Assembly of Pakistan]] on 14 August 1947]]

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}}

[[File:Jinnah lands at Lahore airport.png|thumb|Jinnah's arrival at Lahore to discuss the Kashmir crisis in 1948]]

Despite the [[s:United Nations Security Council Resolution 47|United Nations Security Council Resolution 47]], issued at India's request for a plebiscite in Kashmir after the withdrawal of Pakistani forces, this has never occurred.{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=347–351}}

== Illness and death ==

From the 1930s, Jinnah suffered from [[tuberculosis]]; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. Jinnah believed public knowledge of his lung ailments would hurt him politically. In a 1938 letter, he wrote to a supporter that "you must have read in the papers how during my tours&nbsp;... I suffered, which was not because there was anything wrong with me, but the irregularities [of the schedule] and over-strain told upon my health".{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=158–159, 343}}{{sfn|Ahmed|p=9}} Many years later, Mountbatten stated that if he had known Jinnah was so physically ill, he would have stalled, hoping Jinnah's death would avert partition.{{sfn|Ahmed|p=10}}  Fatima Jinnah later wrote, "even in his hour of triumph, the ''Quaid-e-Azam'' was gravely ill&nbsp;... He worked in a frenzy to consolidate Pakistan. And, of course, he totally neglected his health&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Wolpert|p=343}}<!-- Quoting Fatima Jinnah, ''My Brother'', page number not specified --> Jinnah worked with a tin of [[Craven A|Craven "A"]] cigarettes at his desk, of which he had smoked 50 or more a day for the previous 30 years, as well as a box of Cuban cigars.  As his health got worse, he took longer and longer rest breaks in the private wing of [[Governor's House (Karachi)|Government House]] in Karachi, where only he, Fatima and the servants were allowed.{{sfn|Wolpert|pp=343, 367}}

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}}

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Bidstond in de Kwitang moskee te Jakarta naar aanleiding van het overlijden van Mohammed Ali Jinnah de eerste gouverneur van Pakistan (14 september 1948) TMnr 10001269.jpg|thumb|right|210px|Special services and prayers were held in the Kwitang mosque of [[Jakarta]] ([[Indonesia]]) after the death of Jinnah.]]

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" />

{{See also|List of things named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah}}

Jinnah's legacy is Pakistan. According to Mohiuddin, "He was and continues to be as highly honored<!-- spelling as in original --> in Pakistan as [first US president] [[George Washington]] is in the United States&nbsp;... Pakistan owes its very existence to his drive, tenacity, and judgment&nbsp;... Jinnah's importance in the creation of Pakistan was monumental and immeasurable."{{sfn|Mohiuddin|pp=74–75}}  [[Stanley Wolpert]], giving a speech in honour of Jinnah in 1998, deemed him Pakistan's greatest leader.<ref name="greatest" />

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}}

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

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Muhammad Ali Jinnah, according to Yasser Latif Hamdani and Eamon Murphy, is associated with his call for [[Direct Action Day]], which resulted in bloodshed and communal violence that culminated in the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.<ref name="Hamdani2020">{{cite book |last1=Hamdani |first1=Yasser Latif |title=Jinnah: A Life |date=23 June 2020 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |isbn=978-93-89109-64-1 |language=en |quote=Speaking at a Students Brotherhood event, which he presided over in July in 1922, Jinnah spoke of direct action, something that would become synonymous with him in the Indian mind, owing to his famous direct action day call in 1946 - direct action meant bloodshed and independence would mean bloodshed.}}</ref> This incident and Jinnah's role, according to these authors, is viewed with contempt especially in India.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Eamon |title=The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of Extremism |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-56526-4 |page=37 |language=en |quote=After negotiations between Congress, the British and Jinnah got bogged down over the future of the subcontinent, on 16 August 1946, Jinnah called for a Direct Action Day, involving protests and meetings in support of Pakistan. This led to savage communal violence in Calcutta, which quickly spread to other parts of India.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Siddique |first1=Salma |title=Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit, 1940–1960 |date=16 February 2023 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-15120-7 |page=88 |language=en |quote=According to Dyal, in ''Ghaddar'' 'the policy of Muslim League is discussed threadbare and Jinnah is held responsible for the holocaust that preceded and followed partition'.}}</ref>

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

| access-date = 15 August 2012

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