The great personalities have a great impact on the pages of history and they are always remembered for their remarkable work. One of those great personalities was our founder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. For whom Poet of the East rightly wrote:
Hazaron saal Nargis apni be noori pay roti hey
Bari Mushkil se hota hey chaman mien dedawar paida
He was truly a unique personality – a sole example, incomparable not only in the sub continent but in the world history.
He performed diverse roles each with a distinction, he was one of the greatest legal luminaries India had ever produced, an `ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, a great constitutionalist, a distinguished parliamentarian, a statesman par excellence, an indefatigable freedom-fighter, a dynamic leader, a political strategist and, above all one of the great nation-builders of modern times.
He born in a middle class family, passed from various difficult phases and reached to the highest position and created a new country which was also a unique country in the world. In this entire long journey he adhered to ethical and moral values. Difficult times, opponents’ pressure, could not budge him from his principles. Throughout this entire struggle his courage and commitment was unprecedented.
Clarity of Purpose:
From the very beginning he had a vision to create his own destiny. Fatima Bai wife of one of the cousin of Quaid-i-Azam has recorded her memories about Quaid-i-Azam when he was a young boy of just 8 years, according to her he used to study
1. At night in the light of oil lamp while other children were asleep. One night when Fatima Bai went to him and said, You will make yourself ill from so much study,’ and he answered, ‘Bai, you know I cannot achieve anything in life unless I work hard.’
Only a unique personality like him can have a clear vision of life at such a young age. He wanted to make his destiny, and he knew that the hard work is the only way to achieve something in life.
Self Respect:
At the age of 14 he advised his cousin Jaffer Nanji that playing with glass marble in the street spoils cloth and make hands dirty so we should play cricket.
In early years of his career he had to face many difficulties but even at that time he was known for his neat and nicely pressed dresses.
Academic Excellence:
In 1892 he was not yet sixteen when he went to England. Within two years he completed all his courses which was a remarkable achievement. He did not dissipate his energies with hobbies and became the youngest Indian students to be called to a Bar.
Reverence for the Holy Prophet:
Quaid-i-Azam was a liberal person but he never hesitated in expressing his respect for religion and for the Holy Prophet. He considered Muhammad (peace be upon him) a great statesman and a great sovereign. He chose Lincolns Inn as his Alma matter because at the main entrance, the name of the Prophet was included in the list of the great law-givers of the world.
2. Start of Career:
In 1897 he moved to Bombay to start his career as a lawyer, first three years were very difficult he had to make fortune by himself6 as he was the only Muslim barrister of the time. But even at that difficult time he was known for his honesty.
Courage:
Its quit unusual that a person who is struggling for his own career does not hesitate to take stand against the powerful foreign rulers. Quaid-i-Azam was that unique personality showed that courage. In 1903 when he was struggling as a young lawyer he asked Mr. James Macdonald to vacate the seat in the Bombay High Court as he was not authorized to sit in lawyer’s area. Mr. James Macdonald a Scotsman was the President of the Bombay High Court. He was a very influential person; he got impressed with young M. A. Jinnah’s courage and self confidence with which he had challenged a white Englishman. He offered young Jinnah to be the lawyer of Bombay Municipal Corporation.
Another example of his courage and self confidence came in the first meeting of the Imperial Legislative Council that was held at Calcutta, on January 25, 1910. Thirty three years old Mr. M. A. Jinnah as an elected member of the Council while criticizing South African government was interrupted by the viceroy Lord Minto but Quaid-i-Azam and asked him not to use hash words like cruel against the friendly part of the British Empire but though it was his first encounter with viceroy Quaid-i-Azam exhibited the same courage for which he was famous in Bombay’s courts. He insisted on the word cruel used for the attitude of the South African government with the Indians.
This was the first time that any member of the Legislative council had ignored the ruling of the viceroy and it became the headline in next day’s newspapers.
3. Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity:
Among the large lot of Indian politicians it was Mr. M. A. Jinnah who earned the title of Ambassador of Hindu Muslim unity. His sincere efforts had brought the two large communities of the subcontinent on one platform when they signed the famous Lucknow Pact in December 1916. It was the only pact ever signed between Congress and All-India Muslim League. It was a great achievement that within 10 years after entering into politics he did a miracle by uniting the divided Hindus and Muslims.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the ideal person for many young politicians including M. A. Jinnah and Gandhi, had once said about M. A Jinnah, “he has the true stuff in him and that freedom from all sectarian prejudice will make him the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity”
Realistic Approach:
Unlike many other politicians of the time Quaid-i-Azam always emphasized on adopting rational thinking. He was against the use of emotion in politics. His opposition of Khilafat Movement was an example of this. Though he was criticized by the Muslim leadership but he kept his cool and was not carried away by emotions.
Later other leaders also realized his wisdom and farsightedness and started looking towards him for guidance.
Adherence to Constitutional Means:
Nagpur Session: In December 1920 fourteen thousands delegates from all over India gathered in Nagpur to attend the special session of All India National congress. All was set to adopt the Gandhi’s plan of Non cooperation, enthusiastic worker were chanting slogans for the movement. This environment could not
4. Impress M. A. Jinnah and he did not hesitate to oppose Mr. Gandhi, he said ” Your way is the wrong way : mine is the right way the constitutional way is the right way.” After that he quit congress.
Quaid-i-Azam in the eyes of World Leaders
His inelastic honesty, sincerity of purpose, farsightedness, firm belief in constitutional means and democracy made him the most important statesman of not only in India but also in the world. One of the universally recognized statesman Sir Aga Khan paid him rich tribute in his Memoirs, “Of all the statesmen that I have known in my life – Clamenceau, Lloyd George, Churchill, Curzon, Mussolini, Mahatma Gandhi – Jinnah is the most remarkable. None of these men in my view outshone him in strength of character and in that almost uncanny combination of prescience and resolution, which is statecraft”.
Beverley Nichols, the author of `Verdict on India’, called him “the most important man in Asia”, and Dr. Kailashnath Katju, the West Bengal Governor in 1948, thought of him as “an outstanding figure of this century not only in India, but in the whole world”. While Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, called him “one of the greatest leaders in the Muslim world”, the Grand Mufti of Palestine considered his death as a “great loss” to the entire world of Islam. It was, however, given to Surat Chandra Bose, leader of the Forward Bloc wing of the Indian National Congress, to sum up succinctly his personal and political achievements. “Mr Jinnah”, he said on his death in 1948, “was great as a lawyer, once great as a Congressman, great as a leader of Muslims, great as a world politician and diplomat, and greatest of all as a man of action, By Mr. Jinnah’s passing away, the world has lost one of the greatest statesmen and Pakistan its life-giver, philosopher and guide”.Such was Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, truly a unique personality.