Jinnah family

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Jinnah family
Mazar-e-Quaid, the final resting place of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Fatima Jinnah
Place of originKathiawar, Bombay Presidency, British India[1]
(now in Kathiawar, Gujarat India)
MembersMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah
Jinnahbhai Poonja
Emibai Jinnah
Rattanbai Jinnah
Dina Wadia
Connected familiesWadia family
Petit family
DistinctionsPolitical prominence
Estate(s)See full list

The Jinnah family (Urdu: خاندان جناح) was a political family of Pakistan. It has played an important role in the Pakistan Movement for creation of Pakistan, a separate country for Muslims of India. The family held the leadership of All-India Muslim League, and its successor, Muslim League, until it was dissolved in 1958 by martial law.

Members of Jinnah family, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (often referred to simply as Jinnah) and Fatima Jinnah, have been important figures in the history of Pakistan. Jinnah is considered as the founder of Pakistan and served as the first Governor General of Pakistan upon independence, while Fatima played an important role in the struggle for Pakistan Movement and was the founding mother of Pakistan. Several public places, universities, and hospitals in the world have been named after Jinnah and his sister Fatima, and the former's birth and death anniversary are among the public holidays in Pakistan.[2][3]

History[edit]

Jinnah's family history is disputed among various sources.[4] Originally from a Gujrati-speaking Lohana caste of Thakkar background,[5][6] they moved to Karachi from Kathiawar, Bombay Province in 1875.[7] Jinnah's paternal grandfather, Poonja Gokuldas Meghji, was from Paneli Moti village in Gondal state in Kathiawar peninsula (now in Gujarat, India).[8] Jinnah was the eldest of seven children of Jinnahbhai Poonja, a prosperous merchant, and his wife, Mithibai. His family was a member of the Khoja sect, Hindus who had converted to Islam centuries earlier and were followers of the Aga Khan.[5] Although born to a Khoja (from Khwaja or 'noble') family who were disciples of the Aga Khan, Jinnah moved towards the Sunni sect early in life. There is evidence later, given by his relatives and associates in court, to establish that he was firmly a Sunni Muslim by the end of his life.[9]

Members of the Jinnah family[edit]

First Generation[edit]

  • Poonja Gokuldas Meghji
    • He entered into the trading of fish within the coastal town of Veraval. His business, however, clashed with the strong moral ethics of the Lohanas and as a result he was ostracised from the community. He was the last generation to give his children Hindu names. He also observed most Hindu religious rituals.[10]
    • Manbai Poonja[11]
    • Walji Poonja[12]
    • Nathoobhai Poonja[13]
    • Jinnahbhai Poonja[5]

Second generation[edit]

  • Jinnahbhai Poonja (also referred to as Jina Poonja), a Khoja (1857–1902), was married to Mithhibai.[5][14][15][5]
    • He was a prosperous merchant.[5] He moved to Karachi before Muhammad Ali Jinnah's birth. He and his wife, Mitthibhai, had 7 children to whom they stopped giving Hindu names, stopped observance of Hindu chatti ritual, and began giving Quran lessons to their children:[16][10]
  1. Muhammad Ali Jinnah
  2. Ahmed Ali Jinnah
  3. Bunde Ali Jinnah
  4. Rahmat Bai Jinnah
  5. Shireen Bai Jinnah
  6. Maryam Bai Jinnah
  7. Fatima Jinnah

Third generation[edit]

  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948)
    • The founder of Pakistan and was the country's first Governor-General. His first marriage in 1892 was the result of his mother urging him to marry his cousin Emibai Jinnah before he left for England to pursue higher studies. However, Emibai died a few months later. His second marriage took place in 1918 to Rattanbai Petit, a Parsi who was 24 years his junior. Rattanbai converted to Islam when she married Jinnah.[17] In 1919, she gave birth to their only child, Dina Jinnah.[18][19]
    • Emibai Jinnah (1878–1893)
      • Dawn Fact File: "In his youth, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was married to a distant cousin named Emibai from Paneli village in Gujarat at his mother's urging. At the time of their marriage, Jinnah was only 16 and Emibai was 14. The marriage was arranged by his mother because she feared that when Jinnah went to England, he might end up marrying an English girl. The couple hardly lived together as Jinnah sailed from India soon after his marriage and Emibai died a few weeks later."[16]
    • Rattanbai Jinnah (1900–1929)
      • She belonged to the Petit family and was the granddaughter of industrialist Dinshaw Maneckji Petit. She was disowned by her family upon converting to Islam and marrying Jinnah, however it was only after the birth of her daughter, Dina, that she reconciled with her family. Jinnah’s political activism drifted him apart from her and she spent last years of her life at a suite in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and died in 1929. [20]
  • Ahmed Ali Jinnah
    • He fell in love with a Swiss girl named Emmy. Despite discouragement from the British authorities due to cultural differences, Ahmed Ali persisted and succeeded in marrying her. His daughter Fatima, lived in Switzerland and bore no children.[21]
  • Bunde Ali Jinnah
  • Rahmat Bai Jinnah
    • She was married to Cassimbhoy Jamal.[22]
  • Shireen Bai Jinnah (1894–1980)
    • She was married to Jafferbhoy. She chose to live in Pakistan and resided at Mohatta Palace in Karachi until her death in 1980.[23]
  • Fatima Jinnah (1893–1967)
    • Fatima Jinnah was a dental surgeon, biographer, stateswoman, and one of the leading Founding mothers of modern-state of Pakistan. She also played a pivotal role in civil rights and introduced the women's rights movement in the Pakistan Movement. After her brother's death she continued to play a pivotal role in Pakistani politics and in 1965 returned to active politics by running against Ayub Khan in the 1965 elections.
  • Maryam Bai Jinnah
    • She was married to Abdenbhoy Peerbhoy.

Fourth generation[edit]

She had a rift with her father when she expressed her desire to marry a Parsi businessman Neville Wadia. According to M. C. Chagla in "Roses in December", Jinnah, a Muslim, disowned his daughter after trying to dissuade her from marrying Neville. Dina Wadia was the only direct living link to Jinnah and the nation of Pakistan claiming her father as its own father of the nation is assumed to have some kind of kinship with her according to Akbar S. Ahmed.[24] His descendants through her are part of the Wadia family and reside in India as she married and stayed in India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. She eventually reconciled with her father before partition and visited her father twice in Pakistan. She lived alone with staff in the New York City, United States and died of pneumonia at her home in New York on 1 November 2017 at the age of 98. [25][26][27][28]

  • Akbar A. Peerbhoy
    • He was the son of Maryam Bai Jinnah and her husband Abdenbhoy Peerbhoy. He achieved prominence as a barrister in the post-partitioned India and authored the book Jinnah Faces an Assassin in 1986.[29]
  • Akbar Jafferbhoy
    • He was the only son of Shireen Bai Jinnah and her husband Jafferbhoy. He never married and naturally had no children. He died before his mother’s death in 1980.[30][31]

Fifth generation[edit]

  • Liaquat H. Merchant
    • Liaquat is the grandson of Maryam Bai Jinnah. He was appointed as Administer of the Estate of Jinnah by the High Court of Sindh in 1980 and as a Trustee of the Qauid-e-Azam Aligarh Education Trust in 1984. He is the Founder and Managing Trustee of the Jinnah Foundation and the President of Jinnah Society. He has also served as a Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan and has established various trusts and non-government organisations in Pakistan, and has been responsible for various publications on Jinnah. The President of Pakistan conferred Sitara-i-Imtiaz on him in 2008.[33]

Other grandsons and granddaughters of Jinnah’s sisters, Maryam Bai and Rehmat Bai include Qulsoom Ibrahim, Zehra Chandoo, Gulshan Chandoo, Mohammad Ebrahim, Hussein Ebrahim, Abbas Peerbhoy, Rohina Peerbhoy, Moonira Kassam. Most of them are presently living in Karachi, Bombay and Kolkata.[34]

Estates[edit]

Quaid-e-Azam House
Quaid-e-Azam House
Private estates
  • Wazir Mansion, Jinnah's birthplace in Karachi
  • South Court, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's former residence in Mumbai, India, currently owned by the government of India.
  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah House, Jinnah's former House at 10 Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, currently the Dutch Embassy in India.
  • Quaid-e-Azam House, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's House in Karachi
  • Jinnah House, a property owned by Jinnah in Lahore, currently the Corps Commander House
Official residences

Family photos[edit]

Family tree[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Maroof Raza, M. (1996). Wars and No Peace Over Kashmir. Lancer Publishers. ISBN 9781897829165.
  2. ^ The story of Pakistan
  3. ^ a b Guriro, Amar (30 June 2009). "Aslam Jinnah's claim of being Quaid's family disputed". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  4. ^ Ahmed 2005, p. 3–4: Jinnah's family traced its descent from Iran and reflected Shia, Sunni and Ismaili influences; some of the family names -- Valji, Manbai and Nathoo -- were even 'akin to Hindu names'...Another source has a different explanation of Jinnah's origins. Mr Jinnah, according to a Pakistani author, said that his male ancestor was a Rajput from Sahiwal in the Punjab who had married into the Ismaili Khojas and settled in Kathiawar.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Mohammed Ali Jinnah". britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  6. ^ Ahmed 2005, p. 4.
  7. ^ Gujrats gifts to India and Pakistan
  8. ^ Pirbhai, M. Reza (2017). Fatima Jinnah. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-107-19276-8.
  9. ^ Ahmed 2005, p. 4: Although born into a Khoja family who were disciples of the Ismaili Aga Khan, Jinnah moved towards the Sunni sect early in life. There is evidence later, given by his relatives and associates in court, to establish that he was firmly a Sunni Muslim by the end of his life.
  10. ^ a b Panigrahi, D. N. (2004). India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat. Routledge. p. 16.
  11. ^ Web Desk. "Jinnah family whereabouts". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  12. ^ Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Whereabouts of Walji Poonja family". Daily Express. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  13. ^ Web Desk. "Jinnah family whereabouts". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  14. ^ The truth about Aslam Jinnah, Dawn, Liaquat Merchant, (the grandson of Maryam Bai, one of Quaid-e-Azam's sisters), JUL 10, 2009
  15. ^ "Closed fist worth millions". Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  16. ^ a b Fact file: Jinnah's family
  17. ^ Newspaper, the (21 December 2012). "Maryam Jinnah". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  18. ^ Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Ruttie's love letter to Jinnah". Daily Express. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  19. ^ Official website, Government of Pakistan. "Early Days: Birth and Schooling". Archived from the original on 5 November 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2006.
  20. ^ "Mr and Mrs Jinnah". The Nation. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  21. ^ Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Not so prominent members of the Jinnah family". Daily Express. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  22. ^ Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Not so prominent members of the Jinnah family". Daily Express. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  23. ^ Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Shirin Jinnah remembers her brother the Quaid-i-Azam". Daily Express. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  24. ^ Ahmed 2005, p. 21.
  25. ^ Business baron Nusli Wadia attends to his ailing mother [dead link]
  26. ^ Dawn.com (2 November 2017). "Jinnah's only daughter, Dina Wadia, passes away at 98". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  27. ^ "Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia dies in New York". The Hindu. PTI. 2 November 2017. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  28. ^ Web Desk. "Quaid-e-Azam'S daughter Dina Wadia dies in New York - SUCH TV". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  29. ^ Web Desk. "In Jinnah's defense". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  30. ^ Web Desk. "Quaid-e-Azam " The secular Mussalman"". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  31. ^ Web Desk. "Jinnah family whereabouts". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  32. ^ Cover, Story (31 August 1989). "'Why should I be a threat?' - Interview with Nusli Wadia". India Today. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  33. ^ Web Desk. "Jinnah's Legacy: A talk with Mr Liaquat H. Merchant". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  34. ^ Web Desk. "Jinnah's Legacy: A talk with Mr Liaquat H. Merchant". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

Sources[edit]

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