Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

   By Syed Muhammad Mamoon Rashid Advocate High Court

Click on the image to enlarge .

Click on the image to enlarge .

Quaid-e-Azam wearing his famous monocle  Sir Patrick Spen, the last Chief Justice, of undivided India, paid tribute to Quaid-e-Azam in the following words: “There is no man or woman living who imputes anything against his honour or his honesty. He was the most upright person that I know, but throughout it all, he never, as far as I know, for one moment, attempted to deceive any body, as to what he was aiming at or as to the means he attempted to adopt to get it.” . .

Although everyone says what a superb lawyer Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was, rarely does one get to read anything about the court appearances that earned him that reputation. I remember years ago in Lahore, Safdar Mir, the great Zeno of Pakistan Times , telling me about the Quaid’s contribution to the “Indianisation” of the British-led and officered army. Though I never made the effort to look up how and where the Quaid had made his contribution, what Safdar Mir has said remained engraved in my memory. The other day, while reading the autobiography of the late Maj. Gen. Ajit Anil “Jik” Rudra, who originally came from Lahore, served in three armies, fought in both World Wars and died in India in 1997 at the age of 93, I came upon an episode that showed that the Quaid’s reputation as a brilliant lawyer was not a Pakistani myth but a fact. The Government of India appointed a committee of the legislature – I am not clear about the year – to study the question of Indianising the

Mr. Frank Moraes, Chief Editor of The Indian Express has described Quaid-i-Azam in the following words: “Watch him in the court room as he argues a case. Few lawyers command a more attentive audience. No man is more adroit in presenting his case. If to achieve the maximum result with minimum effort is the hallmark of artistry, Mr. Jinnah is an artist in his craft. He likes to get down to the bare bones of a brief. In stating the essentials of a case, his manner is masterly. The drab courtroom acquires an atmosphere as he speaks. Juniors crane their necks forward to follow every movement of his tall, well groomed figure; senior counsels listen closely; the judge is all attention.”

A judge asked Quaid-e-Azam to speak a little louder. Quaid-e-Azam retorted; “I am a barrister, not an actor.”

By Ian Stephens * I am going to term the great man, whom we have come here to commemorate Mr. Jinnah, because that is what he was mostly known as, throughout the time I had glimpses of him. Glimpses, I say, I had not much more, certainly I do not claim I knew him at all well. However, on occasions I did see him and, on some, meet and talk with him; and this, too, which was lucky for me, over a span of about seventeen history-shaping years, unique in South Asian affairs, between 1931 and 1948. Furthermore, my memories of these occasions, or some of them, still seem vivid – which I hope means, as well, that they are largely true – a supporting practical reason for that being, of course, a fact realized I suppose by everyone here: that he was a very exceptional person, in body and mind. My first sighting was brief, but remains perhaps the clearest. I was young and impressionable, in my twenties only; I had been in India little more than a year. But though I am now well into my seventi

By S. Razi Wasti Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah became Governor General of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, but he had worked for the betterment of the Muslim world throughout his political life. In order to understand his views and policy about the Muslim world, a reference to the policy of Muslim India, before the birth of Pakistan, would be pertinent. Many Muslims believed that India, became dar-ul-harb , after the Battle Plassey in 1757. According to them it was obvious that the British now possessed power to interfere with the religious observances of their Muslim subjects. It was, therefore, incumbent upon them to wage a holy war ( Jihad ) against the British to reconvert the country into dar-ul-Islam . Another school represented by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan declared that Jihad against the British was not desirable for the reasons that Muslims enjoyed peace and religious freedom under the British rule. It was the former conception that provided the inspiration for the Mujahideen

By Mukhtar Zaman Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had many qualities, but he tops the list in three of them; as a lawyer, as a parliamentarian and as a public leader. As a public leader, with odds against him, he performed the political miracle of this century by founding an independent country. In all the three his mental powers, oratory, determination, honesty and straightforwardness help him. But, here, let us confine to discuss only one of his achievements i.e., as a parliamentarian. Mr. Jinnah was still in London studying law when he was attracted by politics. Politics often leads to Parliament and law helps both of them. He attended the British Parliament regularly and attentively watched from gallery, the ways, manners, gestures and even the dress of prominent honourables members. Men like Gladstone, T.P. Connor, Joseph Chamberlain formed a lasting impression on his mind. Hector Bolitho has pointed out that his reader’s tickets of the British Museum still exists in the British

'He labored at his briefs day and night. There was never a word of gossip about his private life. A figure like that invites criticism particularly in this lazy East where we find it easier to forgive a man for his faults rather than for his virtues'. A comment of a law colleague on Jinnah during his early days as a Barrister in Bombay.