Jinnah: A Life

by Yasser Latif Hamdani

Was Jinnah the sole driving force behind the Partition of India? Or was he a champion of Islam who stood for a new Islamic renaissance?Mahomed Ali Jinnah started his political career in the Congress as a staunch Indian nationalist. He believed in secular politics and was opposed to bringing religion into it. He was known as an ambassador of Hindu–Muslim unity. So why did he, towards the end of his career, initiate the creation of a separate Muslim-state?This new biography provides the answers while casting fresh light on Jinnah's character, his personal life, his political and legal careers, his relationship with Gandhi, Nehru as well as his disagreements with their ideas. Carefully examining the major events of his life – from early childhood to his first speech as President of the All India Muslim League – Yasser Latif Hamdani presents a complex and compelling portrait of Jinnah who is often narrowly regarded as a votary of a theocratic Islamic state.Based on extensive research and a wealth of archival material, Hamdani has revealed those traits of Jinnah’s personality that made him the most misunderstood leader of his times. He also comments on how religious zealots have turned Pakistan into an Islamic Republic contrary to Jinnah's vision.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Pakistan

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2020

Reviews

[Sanjay Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always believed that, with passage of time, it becomes easier to take a more objective view of the events of the past and not get coloured by one’s own biases formed over the years based upon history taught in school as well as other books read over the years. I would recommend this book to those interested in the sub-continent’s twentieth century history. The author has been largely objective and analytical relying upon archives and other objective sources. The picture of Jinnah in the early part of his political career, as a steadfast patriotic Indian committed to a secular and united India with little tolerance for religious fundamentalists, is highlighted well by the author and is largely in line with what I have read elsewhere as well as heard. We also get to read objectively about the political manoeuvring of various politicians including leaders like Gandhi, Nehru etc as well as how the British exploited and drove a wedge on communal lines. The narrative is largely objective as long as one overlooks a few understandable biases due to the author’s high regard for Jinnah. Some of his explanations regarding Jinnah’s actions as a Muslim League leader in a few cases are not consistent. But overall, he does highlight how the Pakistan state diverged from Jinnah’s vision, how Jinnah could not back out of his maximalist demand for partition and his attempts to backtrack at the last minute was foiled by the British and circumstances and his final regret of having brought about the partition of India.

[Kirti Upreti · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain”

History is stuck in an abusive marriage with Politics. Politics, like an orthodox patriarch, forces History to remain obsequious to his wishes and mould herself at his whims and command. To the outside world, the marriage seems to be an epitome of mutual respect and loyalty but it remains blindly oblivious to what goes on behind hermetically closed doors.

Somewhere between the hagiographic narrative of Pakistan's founding father and his satanic portrait painted in India, the real person gets ignored. Before he became Qaid-e-Azam, there was this Jinnah whose misfortune was only this much that he was ahead of his times. An Indian by birth, a liberal Englishman by his attitude, he dared to be a cosmopolitan in an era when religious identities and icons were being deployed to trigger nationalism. A staunch advocate of freedom of press, women's education, free speech, he was the only one among the many stalwarts who actually practised as a lawyer and stood up for even those whom he did not agree with. Impeccable writing and oratory, penchant for the English language, disdain for religious dogmas, along with a premium he put on the quality of life led him into being someone who belonged nowhere.

Let down by almost everyone, he had two choices just as any disillusioned person: either to withdraw himself completely or go back and play the game by the rules one so detested earlier. Jinnah chose the latter. If he could teach himself to become one of the most renowned lawyers of his time, he could sure learn the tricks of the trade from the incumbent leaders of the game.

And that's what he did. Whether he won or lost, perhaps he himself couldn't tell. The Dark Knight has much more to him than what History is instructed to tell under its marital servitude.

[Sruthi N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mahomed Ali Jinnah is often regarded as the person responsible for the partition of India and all the unfortunate events that followed - a villain, or as a champion of Islam who stood for a new Islamic renaissance - the Quaid-i-Azam. It usually depends on whose version of history you're reading. Here's a biography of this complex character that is objective and impartial.
Jinnah: A Life attempts to shine some light on how and why a person dubbed as the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity eventually came to be regarded as the sole driving force behind the partition.

The author, Yasser Latif Hamdani, has given an informative account of Jinnah's life. It is presented without bias and doesn't read like a book that's written to glorify Jinnah. His writing kept me interested until the very end; however there were times when the narrative felt excessively detailed (guess I could blame my attention span for that).
It is exceptionally well researched and elaborate. The focus of this book isn't only on Jinnah's role in the partition of the country, but also on his formative years spent away from his family, his career as a lawyer, the much talked about relationship with Ruttie Petit, his tenure as President of AIML, among other things. From adolescence to the day he breathed his last, you'll find everything you want to know about Jinnah in this book. Definitely worth a read.

After reading this I’m certain we’ll need his pre-1937 politics in India and Pakistan. Especially now.

“If Pakistan was meant to bring communal peace in the subcontinent, as was Jinnah’s intent, the continuing misery of Muslims in India and of non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan only serve to prove him wrong.”

[Ayush SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pakistan had been the biggest blunder of my life". This came from none other than the Quaid-I-Azam of Pakistan in his last days who through the course of time in India have been metamorphosed into a bloodlusting megalomaniac for carving Pakistan out of India and for the same has been appropriated and revered by the Pakistani fundamentalists as a champion of the Islamic cause. But is this the real Jinnah?
Author Yasser Latif Hamdani in his quest to show Jinnah, who was originally a staunch secularist , erudite, eminent lawyer and a champion of indian nationalism and later who envisaged a secular Pakistan, reinforced the fact that jinnah would be the most terribly misrepresented leader in the history of the subcontinent. No wonder even the right wing leader LK Advani during one of his visits to Pakistan, after visiting the Jinnah mausoleum wrote generously of Jinnah in the visitor's book which caused a furore in his own party. Overall, A gem of a book that ought to be read by more people of this subcontinent to know more about a man to whom history hasn't been kind.

[Pranav Jagdish]

When I picked up this book, friends and family alike questioned my sudden interest in a segment of history that they deemed irrelevant. I picked up Jinnah: A Life mainly because I was tired of seeing WhatsApp University always allude to historical references that I didn't think as accurate. In that regard, this book does well. Throughout, Hamdani breaks conventional myths we(the Indian public) associate about Jinnah. His political bias, views on British Raj,Gandhi,Nehru are stated clearly.

Although heavy on law and legislation related to Jinnah's rise in the Muslim League and Congress, this book isn't too technical. One surprising subject that it covers well is how extremist politics don't allow moderate, centrist views to thrive. As much as I enjoyed this read however, I don't treat this book as gospel or the only account of how things happened. It is a start though, which I think is more important. Overall, if you're curious about Jinnah pick this up, definite recommend.

[Ankita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad I came across this book and I am an Indian.
Jinnah's name does not have any positive connotation to it here in India. Definitely, not while I was growing up. India and Pakistan have had a common past and as a citizen or rather more as a human being ,I felt the need to know the people who shaped the future of our respective nations. I have read fairly about Gandhi and Nehru. Therefore, Jinnah was long due.
Yaseer has touched upon all the important historical events while briefly mentioning Jinnah's personal life. It has also clarified many myths and assumptions that I had. The journey of a secular man to being the founding father of now an Islamic state is beautifully presented.
This book is a good report on Jinnah. All the facts are well referenced. If anything then this book has left me wanting for more.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Indians, we're raised to hate Jinnah. Our history books paint him as the villian who divided the country and as the man responsible for even the existence of communalism. It seems like he is deliberately cast as one to make heroes of the rest of the leaders in the Independence movement. This biographical account humanises the politician. Shreds myths that surround him. He is neither villified nor deified. Facts are presented in a manner that the reader begins to see the wisdom behind his politics and may well agree with most of it. Witnesses the person that he was and feels really sorry for him and the way Indian history treats him. Which by the way is not very surprising.

[Rohit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

This is well documented account of Jinnah. Anyone who wishes to know more about him and to know him beyond the information we have been fed since our childhood,must read this.

[Manan Majithia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Well researched and chronicled the book offers a different side of Jinnah for readers to read. A personal account of the aspirations of undoubtedly the most contentious man in the subcontinent the book is an honest review of a man who could change history.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Falling short in some aspects, an interesting read nonetheless that is closer to a polemic than historical work, decrying both partition and the majoritarian natures of modern India and Pakistan. Hamdani is not a writer by profession, but a lawyer, which explains his intense focus on Jinnah’s legal work in place of a grand narrative. Accordingly, he also comes across less Jinnah’s biographer than his lawyer, defending him against common (to Indians and Pakistanis perhaps) accusations while striking back at Gandhi and Nehru among others. An issue for the Western reader, as a book written for a South Asian audience, is that an according base level of topical knowledge is taken for granted.

Gandhi, like Jinnah, went to England where he was called to Bar at Inner Temple. His approach to English customs and culture, however, was markedly different than those of Jinnah. This may have been the result of two events in his early life. The first was his brief association with a school friend Shaikh Mahtab, a Muslim boy, who coaxed him into eating meat and apparently also attempted to introduce him to the vice of a brothel. The second was the decision by his head of community to outcast him for planning to travel abroad. Much like Jinnah, who was to face excommunication from the Aga Khani Khoja community, Gandhi too had been thrown out of the Modh Baniya community. The impact of the first probably shaped Gandhi's attitude to non-vegetarians and Muslims, not necessarily in a negative way but more as a demarcation. The second made Gandhi even more resolute in ensuring that he would uphold the promise he made to his mother that he would abstain from meat, women and alcohol. Jinnah too had made a similar vow to his mother but only to the extent of women. Both the future founding fathers of India and Pakistan thus remained faithful to vows they made to their mothers, but Jinnah otherwise integrated more fully into the English lifestyle, returning to India as an Englishman. Gandhi too had adopted English mannerisms but his Hindu identity and culture remained supreme… (p. 60)

Condemning Brigadier General Dyer’s actions, Jinnah, nevertheless, hoped that the events of Jallianwala Bagh would be an isolated incident and that the British would not repeat such outrages. Perhaps this sanguine hope was not misplaced after all as the British by and large did not resort to such violence before or after 1919… (p. 82)

Gandhi's Satyagraha campaign and resort to Hindu idiom and concepts was unacceptable to Jinnah as a constitutionalist trained in the British liberal tradition. For the first time, he also began to see the logic in the Muslim complaints that he had hitherto dismissed with prejudice. (p. 91)

What he disliked was Gandhi's peculiar variety that sought to bring in religious symbols and ideas into politics, which Jinnah wanted nothing to do with, because it would inevitably make communal identities non-negotiable for the communities involved. (p. 92)

He was, at the core, a nationalist who believed that while the British had done some good, they had also exploited the Indian people and that needed to change… …This made Jinnah unique among India politicians or as Nehru said, a rather solitary figure in Indian politics. He would neither join the revolutionaries and the non-cooperators nor would he join the ranks of unquestioningly pro-British loyalists. (p. 114)

Jinnah, along with most of the house, supported the government measure to criminalize that speech which was designed to cause chaos and conflict of the kind seen in Punjab but wanted bona fide criticisms of religion to be exempt, saying, I thoroughly endorse the principle that while this measure should aim at those undesirable persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attack upon the religion of any particular class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion, we must also secure this very important and fundamental principle that those who are engaged in historical works, those who are engaged in bona fide and honest criticism of a religion, shall be protected. In Pakistan, of course, this would in the 1980s acquire a more deadly form when capital punishment was added to penal code for any blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad in the form of Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code. The addition of Section 295A to the Indian Penal Code had opened the door for this legislation. The framers of Section 295A, including Jinnah, were oblivious to and even blissfully unaware of the devastating long-term impact on freedom of speech in the subcontinent. What began as a measure to keep communal peace has often become a tool of majoritarian tyranny in both India and Pakistan. (p. 137)

I ask the hon'ble law member to realize that it is not everybody who can go on starving himself. Try it for a little while and you will see. The man who goes on a hunger strike has a soul. He is moved by the soul and he believes in the justice of his cause; he is not an ordinary criminal who is guilty of a coldblooded sordid wretched crime... It seems to me, Sir, that the great and fundamental doctrine of British jurisprudence, which is incorporated and codified in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code has very wisely not made such an absurd provision in the criminal law of this country and I am not satisfied that there is a lacuna in our system of criminal law.’ Bhagat Singh's methods were not something Jinnah had ever endorsed. Indeed, some in Bhagat Singh's group had toyed with the idea of assassinating Jinnah to make an example out of constitutionalists and this was known to Jinnah at the time he got up to speak. He had also been present in the assembly when Bhagat Singh and others had thrown the cracker bomb. However, so committed was Jinnah to the ideals of freedom and India… (p. 140)

It was during one of his walks from courts to his house that Jinnah picked up a copy of ‘Grey Wolf’, in which H. C. Armstrong detailed the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's president and modernizer. Now, he had the opportunity of reading in detail about the man who was his junior by five years but had managed to forge a modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Something appealed to Jinnah about Ataturk; he recommended it to his then fourteen-year-old daughter. Indeed, he seems to have spoken about it so much that Dina began calling him 'Grey Wolf’. From this point onwards, the dream of being the Muslim Gokhale seemed to be replaced with a new ambition and a new ideal. Certainly, Jinnah's pronouncements that he was an Indian first, second and last became less frequent after this. Later, upon Ataturk's death, Jinnah would remark that Ataturk was not just the greatest Mussalman of the age but one of the greatest men to ever live. (p. 148)

The emancipation of women would be something that Jinnah would repeat often in the course of Pakistan movement. There was a feminist dimension to the Pakistan movement that has hardly ever been underscored. Nationalism cannot afford to ignore women, especially when it comes to counting numbers. It was the women who thus formed the vanguard of popular movements, struggles, electoral battles and even war… …Jinnah had been an activist for the suffrage movement in his student days in London. He was genuinely distressed to see the state of women in the Muslim community, something he alluded to on several occasions. Jinnah famously said in 1944: 'No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.’ (p. 195-196)

It is easier to understand Nehru's point of view, given that he had implacably opposed the very idea of safeguards since his entrance into politics; though, strangely enough, he too would be accused of 'minority appeasement' by his critics later. Congress' insistence on partition of Punjab and Bengal essentially set the ball rolling for utter and total chaos and breakdown, making peaceful birth of the two brotherly nations an impossibility. Nehru's insistence on framing Pakistan as a seceding state from the Indian whole obviously meant that India and Pakistan were born as enemies. Jinnah, on his part, trenchantly refused the notion that Pakistan was a seceding state, framing it instead as a case of a successor state. He stubbornly continued to refer to the federation of Hindu-majority provinces as Hindustan and continued to see India as Pakistan and Hindustan together. (p. 266)

Lord Mountbatten, in his speech, paid tributes to Jinnah's leadership and then referred to Akbar the Mughal Emperor as the epitome of tolerance and goodwill towards all creeds. Jinnah in his response made a reference to this again: 'The tolerance and goodwill that the great Emperor Akbar showed to all the non-Muslims is not of recent origin. It dates back thirteen centuries, when our Prophet not only by words but by deeds treated the Jews and Christians handsomely after he had conquered them. He showed to them the utmost tolerance and regard and respect for their faith and beliefs. The whole history of Muslims, wherever they ruled, is replete with those humane and great principles which should be followed and practised by us’. Some Pakistani writers have attempted to portray this as a rebuke and others have attempted to use this to bolster Jinnah's Muslim credentials. Emperor Akbar's memory often evokes mixed reactions among Muslims. While some admire him as a great Mughal Emperor, others view Akbar as a non-Muslim who tried to introduce his own religion. (p. 294)

[Omar Nizam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: "Jinnah: A Life" by Yasser Latif Hamdani - 📚🇬🇧🇮🇳🇵🇰🇧🇩

One of the most enigmatic figures in history, the Founding Father of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah is revered by some and vilified by others. Some hold him to be the savior of Islam and Muslims in South Asia while others see him as the stubborn statesman whose single minded sense of purpose eventually split India into two.

Away from the derisions and the hagiographic portraits alike, Pakistani author Barrister Yasser Latif Hamdani finally sheds light on this debate by bringing forth the real / historical Mr. Jinnah; relying not on his knowledge as a trained historian, but by his skills as a lawyer.

Readers on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border will be very surprised to learn about the real Mr. Jinnah: a staunch patriot who was hailed as the Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, a man who respected religion but was not looking to build a theocratic state; a man who believed in secular democracy, and ultimately a man who second guessed himself on his deathbed as to whether the state he helped to create was a mistake or not.

Readers in Bangladesh and the Bengali diaspora may also be very surprised to learn that had Mr. Jinnah been alive today, he may well have considered Bangladesh - and not Pakistan as it exists in it's current iteration - as the true manifestation of his vision.

Some 70+ years after his death, Mohammed Ali Jinnah continues to fascinate. A highly riveting page turner, "Jinnah: A Life" is a must read.

Rating: 5/5 stars (with great distinction) 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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[Mohammad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Biased garbage

The author is nothing short of an intellectual terrorist. He presented Jinnah in a completely one sided manner, with dubious citations from his Hindu frenemies. He takes an axe to the Sunni Muslim soul of Pakistan with an intense hatred of our people and our heritage.