Jinnah, Muhammad Ali (Pakistan)

Introduction

The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, known in Islam as Quaid-e-Azam (the Great Leader), was responsible for advancing the case for the partition of India. He laid the constitution for a secular nation which would protect the interests of Indian Muslims, faced with the formation of an Hindu-biased government in post-Independence India. Though hailed by Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866–1915) as the ‘best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity’. Jinnah was not without political enemies. His wish for a separate Muslim home-land were opposed to the ideas of both the Indian National Congress and the British administration.

Early Life

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born on 25 Dec. 1876 in Karachi, into the family of a wealthy merchant. His grandfather, a Gujarati Khoja Muslim, had been a Hindu before converting to Islam. Educated at Gokuldas Tejpal School, then Mission High School, Karachi, Jinnah passed the entrance examination for Bombay university at the age of sixteen. In 1893,...