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Some Interesting Facts about the Life of Quaid-e-Azam

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Some Interesting Facts about the Life of Quaid-e-Azam

Jinnah’s mother tongue was Gujarati, which the Quaid-e-Azam spoke fluently. He was born in the city of ‘Jhirk’ in the Thatta district and his ‘Aqeeqa’ took place at the age of 5 months at the Shrine of ‘Paaneli’.

By Yasir Qazi

We all know that Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) was born to Jinnah Poonja (1857-1901) and his mother’s name was ‘Mithi Bai’ (Sheerin Bai), but most people are not aware that the name of Jinnah Poonja’s father (Quaid-e-Azam’s grandfather) was ‘Poonja Bhai’. While the name of Poonja Bhai’s father (i.e. Quaid-e-Azam’s great-grandfather) was ‘Megh Ji’. The meaning of the word “Jinnah” is: “the Arm’s strength”.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah had two sisters and one brother. Muhammad Ali was the eldest among all of them. The name “Muhammad Ali” was given to him by his maternal uncle ‘Qasim Mohini’. Jinnah’s mother tongue was Gujarati, which the Quaid-e-Azam spoke fluently. While all the siblings had learnt ‘Kachhi’ as well as English as a “Second Language”, they were also proficient in both. Muhammad Ali was born in the city of ‘Jhirk’ in the Thatta district and his ‘Aqeeqa’ took place at the age of 5 months at the Shrine of ‘Paaneli’.

Mr Jinnah's first and second Passport
Jinnah’s first and second Passport

After attaining youth, Jinnah’s height was 5 feet and 10.5 inches. As quoted by Prof S. M. A. Sufi, in his Urdu book “Rehbar-i-Millat: Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah”, he was very fond of Halwa Puri, while according to Jinnah’s daughter ‘Dina’ Jinnah was very fond of rice and curry. She quotes that Jinnah had two chefs with him. One was Indian, and the other was an Irish chef. Jinnah was issued a passport by the Government of British India on July 4, 1936. His Passport Number was 400878. Jinnah was initially married to “Aimi Bai” in February 1892, who was a 14-year-old girl living in ‘Paaneli’ village. At the time of this marriage, Muhammad Ali was barely 16 years old. As it was the marriage of Poonja Bhai’s first son, and the first mega merriment of the family, it was celebrated in the entire community and the whole village participated in this occasion and lavish food was served to the entire public. In 1893, Jinnah left for England for higher education, and after his departure, Aimi could not live long because of her poor health and soon passed away. In this way, Jinnah’s first wedding could last only for a few weeks.

Mr Jinnah, a fond smoker
Jinnah, a fond smoker

Jinnah married for the second time, 25 years after Aimy’s death, to ‘Ratti Bai’ (later: Maryam Begum), a girl from a wealthy Parsi (Zoroastrian) family, who was 24 years younger than Jinnah and was born on February 20, 1900. This bond was a result of their mutual choice. Therefore, Ratti embraced Islam on Thursday, April 18, 1918, a day before this wedding. This decision was Ratti’s personal decision, as a result of which he suffered the displeasure of his family and left his family and all her property for Jinnah. After embracing Islam, she became ‘Maryam Begum’ from ‘Ratti Bai’. On Friday, April 19, 1918, Maryam Begum married M.A. Jinnah and became ‘Maryam Jinnah’. At the time of the wedding, Jinnah was 42 years old and Rati / Maryam was 18 years old only. Maulana Nizam Ahmed Naqshbandi performed this marriage as a ‘Nikaah-Khuwaan’. The marriage certificate of this wedding was written in Persian according to the custom of that time. The dowry was set at Rs.1000, while the Groom – Jinnah gave Rupees 1 Lakh 25 thousand as a gift to his Bride (Maryam). The marriage took place at Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Bombay residence “South Court, Malabar Hill Mansion”. The name of the Registrar, who registered the marriage certificate (Nikaah-Nama) was Maulana Hassan Najafi. Among the witnesses of this marriage were Raja Muhammad Ali Khan (on behalf of Jinnah) and Haji Shaikh Abul Qasim Najafi (on Maryam Jinnah’s behalf). One year later, a daughter was born to Jinnah and Maryam on August 14, 1919, and was named “Dina Jinnah”. Jinnah’s wife Maryam did not live long and died of cancer on February 20, 1929, 11 years after her marriage and 10 years after Dina’s birth, at the age of 29 only. Her funeral took place on February 22, 1929, in Aaram Bagh, Bombay.

a talented snooker playerIn his youth, Jinnah was very fond of reading Shakespeare and acting in the theatre. According to his sister Fatima Jinnah, he would often read Shakespeare to his family after dinner at their residence in Karachi. As a student in London in 1893, he was offered a job as an Actor in a theatre company, but despite his interest, he declined the offer, as he had always wanted to become a barrister and was inclined towards politics.

It is interesting that in the same year (1906) when the All India Muslim League was established, Jinnah joined the ‘Indian National Congress’. He joined the Muslim League in 1913, 7 years after its formation, but until 1920, he was associated with both the Muslim League and the Congress for 7 years. After which Jinnah left the Congress officially in 1920. 14 years later, Jinnah was elected as the President of the All India Muslim League. Jinnah was first diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) in 1938. Colonel Elahi Bakhsh, Dr. Riaz Ali Shah and Dr. S. Alam were his personal physicians. Jinnah also suffered a murderous attack in 1943 by a person named Rafiq Sabri.

Mr Jinnah's Hudson Limousine (Photo Courtesy. ONLINE)
Jinnah’s Hudson Limousine (Photo Courtesy. ONLINE)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was given the title of “Quaid-e-Azam” (Great Leader) by Maulana Mazharuddin, while he was given the title of “Baba-e-Qaum” (‘Father of the Nation’) by Qazi Muhammad Akbar. The British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, used to call Jinnah an ‘Iceberg’. The first biography of Quaid-i-Azam was authored by ‘Hector Bolitho’ (1897 – 1974) titled: “Jinnah, Creator of Pakistan”. Quaid-e-Azam’s favorite game was ‘Snooker’, which he was an expert in. It is said about him, that he neither lost any political shot nor did he lose any of his ‘Billiard’ shots. The name of his special driver was Syed Shah Abdul Hayee, who was his driver in Bombay. Jinnah owned 5 of the most expensive cars of that time, including ‘The Chevrolet’, ‘Packard’, ‘LaSalle’, ‘Ghost Phantom’, ‘Graham Page’, ‘Rolls Royce’ (1924 Model) and ‘Sunbeam’. The ‘LaSalle’ was gifted to him by The Nawab of Jamnagar, while the ‘Pickard’ was given to him by the Nizam of Hyderabad. Nawab of Bahawalpur gifted Quaid-e-Azam a “Silver Ghost Phantom” with a number plate ‘BWP-72’, when he took oath as the first Governor General of Pakistan. When in London, he would go around in a chauffeur-driven Bentley, and in India, he used a top-of-the-line Rolls-Royce and a Cadillac. Jinnah was a chain smoker and it is said that he used to smoke around 50 cigarettes a day. His favorite brand of cigarettes was ‘Craven – A’, which was one of the best and most expensive cigarette brands of that time. He also owned the finest collection of Havana cigars.

Quaid-e-Azam’s 1924 Rolls Royce
Quaid-e-Azam’s 1924 Rolls Royce

In his later years, Jinnah gave up wearing the western outfit (only in public gatherings) and started wearing a Sherwani and a “Karakul Hat” (later called the ‘Jinnah Cap’). Shaikh Rahmatullah of Peshawar was the first cap manufacturer, who designed and sewed the first ever ‘Jinnah Cap’ for him. Apart from Jinnah, this type of cap was also worn by King Amanullah Khan, the former King of Afghanistan. In some gatherings, Jinnah put on Jinnah Cap with western attire (2-piece suit) too.

Quaid-e-Azam was sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by Justice Mian Abdul Rasheed in the presence of the Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten (1900-1979), while there was an intelligence report about the bomb in that congregation. According to eyewitnesses, when Mountbatten and Jinnah, while sitting in the same Royal Buggy, were coming from the Governor General’s House (which is now the residence of the Governor of Sindh) to the oath-taking venue (the Supreme Court of Pakistan Registry, which is not a very long way), that on the way, because of this threat alert, sweat was dripping from Mountbatten’s temple, out of fear and anxiety. At some point during the event, when a private press photographer came in front of the podium (stage) to take a picture of the swearing-in ceremony with his camera, the security personnel immediately took him far away from the stage, due to the threat alert. (The photo of this event is also very popular.)

A National Guard personnel catching a photo Journalist to rush to the oath taking stage during Quaid-e-Azam's oath taking ceremony on August 14, 1947
A National Guard personnel catching a photo Journalist to rush to the oath taking stage during Quaid-e-Azam’s oath taking ceremony on August 14, 1947

After a quick visit to NWFP (the Frontier Province, now Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa) in April 1948, Jinnah left for Quetta in May to finalize the formation of the Advisory Council for Balochistan. After that he travelled to Ziarat (Baluchistan), on the doctor’s advice, for his rest and recovery, from where he left for Karachi on July 1, 1948, to inaugurate the State Bank of Pakistan. His frail and fragile body began to weaken under the strain of these exhausting journeys. So, after some days of this inauguration, on the advice of his personal physician, he again left for Ziarat Residency with his sister Fatima Jinnah, where he spent the last 70 days of his life, where his nursing care was performed by A. S. Nathaniel (died 2013).

Jinnah met his creator at the age of 71 years, 8 months, 27 days, on Saturday September 1, 1948, at 10:25 pm in Karachi. He lived one year and 27 days (392 days) only after the creation of Pakistan. His funeral was held on the second day of his demise, on Sunday September 12, 1948, at 2:30 p.m. on a hill located at the Old Numaish Ground in Karachi. Yusuf Haroon and his companions carried out the work of digging his grave, while Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani led his funeral prayer (Nimaz-e-Janaza). As quoted in the newspapers of those days, more than 5 Lakh people attended this enormous funeral. It is noteworthy that at the time of partition in 1947, the total population of Karachi was only 4.5 Million, which clearly means that a huge number of people from outside Karachi also attended this funeral. After the death of the father of the nation, mourning was commemorated for 40 days in the whole country, during which the national flag was lowered on all the government buildings. The mausoleum was designed by ‘Yahya Merchant’ (1903 – 1990).

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The author is a freelance radio and TV broadcast and print journalist, poet, prose-writer, researcher, columnist, blogger, translator, Media Expert, and author of 12 books in Sindhi. He writes regularly for esteemed English, Urdu and Sindhi papers and websites. He can be reached at djyasirqazi@yahoo.com

 

 

 

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