Sunday, December 27, 2009

Jinnah- A better Muslim


Some people are revered in their life and some after their death. There is no doubt that Jinnah was a legend in his own lifetime and lives on in people's memories long after he is dead to the world. But he continues to be one of the least understood and enigmatic leaders in history. It is a strange fact that Jinnah is revered in Pakistan as the Quaid-i-Azam (The great leader) but portrayed as a villain in neighboring India. He is termed as arrogant, a divider and a cold-hearted man; yet in Pakistan he's seen to be a man of principles, a just and truthful, honest man. Yet how can the two faces of the same man so irreconcilable?
Ali Jinnah's biggest crime in the eyes of Indians is the division of United India on the basis of religion; yet the same man is considered to be the saviour of Muslims of the Sub-Continent by demanding and achieving a state for them. Yet why did a man perceived to be secular demand partition on the basis of religion? There can be two reasons for that; the first being the biased attitudes of the nationalist Hindu leaders that led him to believe that progress of Muslims in a united India, after the British left, would be difficult under a resurgent Hindu majority. What, for me, is the second reason is that Jinnah may be a secular man in his daily habits, but he is the perfect example of a Muslim in his character. He was truthful, incorruptible, honest, a constitutionalist, just and loyal to the people who trusted him. I can only marvel at the honesty and sense of responsibility of a man who had the unwavering loyalty of the people and power; yet he refused to even eat a meal at his country's expense. I am amazed at his love for principles and his penchant to stand for truth. How many examples can a Muslim world boast of in recent history, that may even come near to Jinnah's stature? None. If he isn't a true Muslim in character, I don't know who is.
The problem with the present Muslim population in India is that they tend to see Jinnah as someone who divided India and left them at the mercy of the majority. They fail to see that this is exactly what Jinnah was trying to save them from. If partition had not happened, this would have been the exact fate of all the Muslims, not only the Muslims in present day India. Whenever I go out in the streets of Pakistan, I feel I have a right to this land; there is no one who claims to be more Pakistani than I, but an Indian Muslim cannot say the same thing, as his patriotism is always called into question on the basis of his religion. Why should not, then, the Pakistanis revere Jinnah as their great leader? I was deeply saddened when, on a recent visit to India, I had to hear anti-Jinnah remarks. A remarkable example of what teaching distorted history can do to minds.
As this December 25 passes, I again feel the pull that the great Quaid has on people's hearts. I pray that Allah bless him and enable us to be as honest, as incorruptible and as loyal, as Jinnah was.

6 comments:

  1. This issue is a troubling one for me. As a Muslim of India origin, I've always resented Pakistani and Hindu nationalism - I see both as fake.

    The line that divided Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab is fake, which you can tell by looking at the Punjabi diaspora. Same with Bengal. We have similar cultures, languages, dress, values, yet are divided on the sole basis of religion.

    I think it's sad - a view that annoys many of my Pakistani friends, but it's a view I will probably stick with for the rest of my life.

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  2. Just come to Pakistan once. This is a myth that we are the same people. It's not true any more. There are lots of similarities, a shared history and a love-hate relationship for the other side, but once you are in "the other land", you will see that the differences are a lot and becoming distinct each day. I had this idea of mine confirmed on a recent visit to India and I thank God now that partition did happen.As I say often to my Indian friends, this is not a line only on the map; it is a border etched on hearts and this is the truth. Though I must say that I have very good friends with many Indian Muslims and Hindus, but I would always prefer to be a Pakistani.

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  3. well, jinnah took something from set1 of ppl and gave it to set2 ... set2 will praise him, and set1 wont.
    that said, if he was responsible for creating a state for so many people and if he deserves credit for it, he also has to take the blame for the millions of lives lost ...

    If he is to be given credit for the birth, he has to be blamed for the labour pain too, which in this particular case was way too much ... atleast in my humble opinion.

    to u it may just be a statistic, and a historical fact ... but death ... is a big tragedy.

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  4. Well Shad, the way you put it, I agree ......The pain and the tragedy was too much....but as I said, God has HIS own way of compensating....Sometimes tragedies are necessary to achieve a greater goal.....I feel the pain of the Indian Muslim; I know how they feel but I would never want the time to roll back and undo partition.

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  5. Faroha,

    I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that the border is a real one - to me, it is artificial. A few of my relatives did move to Pakistan after the partition, but there isn't any real difference between us - why should there be?

    Obviously, as the sixty years have passed, each country will have developed its own culture. However, I still stand with my statement that the partition was the biggest mistake in our recent history - a mistake that cost by some accounts 1 million lives. The role that Jinnah played in this, should not be white-washed.

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  6. Hmmm 60 years have passed and both India and Pakistan are changed countries now. It may be true for people of the age group of 60's but for the younger or the middle aged generation, there's a lot of difference in both countries.Partition is a distant reality but something taht the people who migrated haven't forgotten. The horrors of it.....it is impossible to whitewash the pain.

    I am not hiding Jinnah's faults, but I am also not trying to disfigure Nehru and Patel as angels. The reality of partition happened because of the necessity the Muslims felt at that time to assert themselves and no one in pakistan feels it was wrong. The Indians obviously don't like it

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