Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah , 1876-1948, founder of Pakistan , b. Karachi. After his admission to the bar in England, he returned to India to practice law. Early in his career he was a fervent supporter of the Indian National Congress and an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. Jinnah was a member of the legislative council of the viceroy from 1910 to 1919. He joined the Muslim League in 1913 and was elected its president in 1916 and 1920. He played a major role in negotiating the so-called Lucknow Pact (1916) between the League and the Congress, in which the latter conceded that Muslims should have a separate communal electorate to ensure them adequate legislative representation. Hindu-Muslim cooperation soon broke down, however, and the Congress reversed this position. Finally totally disillusioned with the Congress, Jinnah resigned from in 1930. From 1934 until his death he headed the Muslim League and guided its struggle for an independent Pakistan, a state that would include the predominantly Muslim areas of India. His support of the British during World War II increased his influence. Jinnah's claim that the Muslim League represented the Muslims of India was substantiated in 1946, when in the elections for the Indian constituent assembly, the League won all the seats assigned to the Muslim electorate. Jinnah's firm stand and widespread Hindu-Muslim riots forced the Congress to accept establishment of the separate state of Pakistan, and in Aug., 1947, India was partitioned. Jinnah was appointed the first governor-general of the dominion of Pakistan and, although dying of tuberculosis, was elected president of its constituent assembly.

Bibliography: See H. Bolitho, Jinnah (1954); A. S. Ahmed, Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity (1997); A. von Tunzelmann, Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire (2007).

Jinnah, Muhammad Ali (1876–1948) Founder of Pakistan. A British-trained lawyer, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1906, but left it in 1920 when they rejected his demand for a separate Muslim electorate. Jinnah led the Muslim League in campaigning for political equality for Indian Muslims, while continuing to seek agreement with Hindus. By 1940, he had adopted the aim of a separate Muslim state. This was realized when India was partitioned in 1947.

Jinnah, Muhammad Ali (1876–1948) Indian statesman and founder of Pakistan. He headed the Muslim League in its struggle with the Hindu-oriented Indian National Congress, and from 1928 onwards championed the rights of the Muslim minority at conferences on Indian independence. After 1937, when self-governing Hindu provinces began to be formed, his fear that Muslims would be excluded from office led him to campaign for a separate Muslim state. With the establishment of Pakistan in 1947 he became its first Governor-General.