Jinnah - a staunch Muslim

Z A Syed
A number of biographies and hundreds of articles have been written about the sterling qualities of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah. He was a great leader of the Muslims of the subcontinent - straightforward and above-board in his dealings.

In the historic session of the Congress held in December, 1920 at Nagpur, Gandhi moved the famous resolution of non-cooperation. In the presence of 100,000 people, only one voice was raised against the said resolution and that was Mr Jinnah. Within three years Gandhi withdrew the movement and acknowledged that it was a Himalayan mistake on his part. On 26th July, 1943 in Bombay an attempt was made on the life of Quaid-i-Azam. The assassin had attacked with a knife and Mr Jinnah received injuries.
The Quaid demonstrated his deep abhorrence of violence. He stated "Grave political issues cannot be settled by the cult of the knife, nor by the gangsterism. There are parties and differences between them could not be dissolved by attacks on the party leaders. Nor could political views be altered by threat of violence". Mr Jinnah made clear distinction between terrorism and struggle for liberation. He had a similar approach to Kashmir and Palestine.

In 1946 Pundit Nehru and British Cabinet Mission went back on their pledges. Quaid-i-Azam gave a call for direct action. Quaid said, "Today we have said good-bye to constitutions and constitutional methods. Throughout the painful negotiations the two parties with whom we bargained held a pistol at us, one with power and machine guns behind it, and the other with non-cooperation and the threat to launch mass civil disobedience. This situation must be met. We also have a pistol." He further added," we want peace, we do not war. But if you want war, we accept it unhesitatingly."

Muhammad Ali Jinnah delivering his speech in Pakistan Constituent Assembly at Karachi on 14th August 1947 emphasised the basic Islamic principle of " tolerance". He said," The tolerance and good will that great Emperor Akbar showed to all the non-Muslims is not of recent origin. It dates back thirteen centuries ago when Hazrat Muhammed (PBUH) showed tolerance and gave respect to Jews and Christians after he had conquered them.

A true leader is always the voice of his nation. He epitomises the best of what his society can possess and offer. He becomes an embodiment of all that is good around. He shuns all, which is otherwise. He is a man of determination. Being an embodiment of all this, Quaid-i-Azam was different from Gandhi, for whom truth was nothing but expediency. Raghavan N Iyer quotes Gandhi's sayings, "At the time of writing I never think of what I have said before. My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given time." This is subjective morality at will ie as interpreted in a given situation by a certain person.

Gandhi and Jinnah were both from Gujrat Kathiawar. Both were barristers and staunch nationalists. Quaid was not a Sadhu like Gandhi, consuming his community's funds. Gandhi's saintliness is well expressed by Mrs Sarojni Naido when asked by Lord Mountbatten," whether, in view of the determined poverty in which Gandhi chose to live, Congress party could really protect him?" "Ah" she laughed, "you and Gandhi may imagine that when he walks down that Calcutta station platform looking for a suitably crowded third class carriage that he is alone. Or, when he is in his hut in the 'Untouchables' colony he is unprotected. What he does not know is that there are a dozen of our people dressed as untouchables waling behind him, crowding into that carriage. When he moved into Bhangi colony, in Delhi, a score of Congress workers, clothed as Harijans lived in the hovels around him." How the Congress party played the fraud on the untouchables and Harijans and also on the nation-is obvious.

Quaid-i-Azam had no time for such hypocrisies. He lived above board, no hypocrisy, no underhand means, no mincing of words, no selfishness. He stands in sharp contrast to the leaders of his time. Shiv Lal writes in his book' The Tughlaq of India', "Was it not Nehru who on his return from England in 1920s started pressing the then Congress Working Committee for a fixed monthly salary for himself? This was for the first time in India that politics was conceived to be a profession and not a social service as was the practice in those days."

On the same page Shiv Lal had the courage to eulogies Quaid-i-Azam. He writes," It is again an interesting fact of history that while Jinnah 'India's Enemy No 1' willed all his property in India to a Bombay school and to a hospital, Jawaharlal's will determined the succession of his moveable, immovable property only to Mrs Indra Gandhi."

This month Pakistan Muslim League (Q), the new version of Convention Muslim League of Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan arranged All India Muslim League International Conference. During the session an honourable lady scholar said that Quaid-i-Azam was a secular. It was surprising that there was none from Pakistan to challenge her except a Chaudhry, the honourable guest from brother country Bangladesh. Dr Chaudhry Abdul Rahim protested against such remarks about the Father of the Nation and walked out.

There is a lobby of so-called intellectuals who are trying to prove that the Father of the Nation was a secular and he wanted Pakistan to be a secular state. Their act of presenting Jinnah as secular instead of as a true follower of Islamic principles is influencing young generation and if this continues then our Islamic ideology is going to slowly erode away.

The factual position is that, Jinnah on many occasions had clearly and unambiguously stated that Islam would be the ideology of Pakistan. Jinnah had a personality of a true believer, who believed in the strength of the Islamic principles in shaping the destiny of a nation so such a man cannot be deemed as secular.

Allah Almighty says in the Quran: "Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his (one) breast (33; 4)". This verse of the Quran manifests that a genuinely "faithful" person cannot have more than one object of devotion. He who worships Allah cannot worship any other object in the universe. This faith in one Allah makes the believer a single-minded person. By and by, he becomes one in his ownself. Quaid's soul was stout, his will was strong and his faith in God unflinching.

Speaking at the Karachi Bar Association on 25th January 1948 the Quaid said "The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) was a great teacher. He was a great law -giver and a great statesman. The life of the Prophet (PBUH) was simple according to those times. He was successful in everything he did from being a businessman to a ruler. The Prophet (PBUH) was the greatest man that the world had ever seen. Thirteen hundred years ago he laid the foundation of democracy".

On another occasion addressing the civil and military officers at Khaliqdina Hall Karachi, Quaid-i-Azam said, "It is my belief that our salvation lies in following the golden rules of conduct set for us by our great law-giver the Prophet (PBUH) of Islam. Let us lay the foundations of our democracy on the basis of true Islamic ideals and principles". On one occasion when a Muslim who was holding the Holy Quran asked the Quaid what laws would govern Pakistan, Quaid pointed to the Holy Quran and said that the laws were given in the book in his hands. Everyone has the right to express his or her opinion but to deny, ignore or omit facts in intellectual dishonesty cannot be condoned by any reasonable man.

Quaid-i-Azam was a true representative of Muslims. His determination was inspiring. There is no ambiguity in his behaviour. Quaid-i-Azam remained true to his essential nature. His expressions never conveyed any duality. He did not suffer from any character failing. His stood like a rock in fulfilling his mission. A man of integrity, in the field of politics, can safely look up to Quaid-i-Azam for a yardstick. Through his conduct he proved that truth and sincerity of purpose bear fruit even in politics. He could not bow before any person.

Quaid-i-Azam defeated the Congress in Gandhi's lifetime. He defeated Mountbatten, who was sent to implement Cabinet Mission Scheme. Here are his words: "But there was one man who absolutely prevented this(Cabinet Mission Scheme)and that was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the President of Muslim League, who absolutely said 'no' from the very beginning and there was nothing I could do to make him change his mind." Quaid-I-Azam had been deputed and destined to win a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Quaid-i-Azam was aware of his vocation. He had told Mountbatten, "What must be, must be". Pakistan was the will of Allah and it had to be fulfilled. Quaid-i-Azam's lungs had failed but he knew he could not afford time to rest. He was in the thick of battle. Jinnah did not live on his lungs he rather lived on his will power.

He had to attain his destiny. He yielded to his illness only after the achievement of his goal - Pakistan. Quaid told his physician Dr Elahi Bakhsh that he had achieved what he struggled for adding that it was then the duty of the nation to build Pakistan into a strong and prosperous state. His job had finished. Dr Elahi Bakhsh from that day on began to feel that Quaid-i-Azam would not live any longer because he had given up the will to live.
The journey of Quaid-i-Azam's struggle is different from that of many contemporary heroes. It is different because at no stage of his struggle, the Quaid stooped to underhand means. No title could attract him. No office could tempt him. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was above all such petty considerations. He had the feeling that he had been deputed by Allah to something great for the sake of the Muslims of the subcontinent. At the Government House Peshawar, while addressing the Jirgah, Jinnah said on 17th April, 1948: "Whatever I have done, I did as a servant of Islam and only tried to perform my duty and made every possible contribution within my power to help my nation."

Source:http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/dec-2006/25/columns4.php