Birth Place Of Muhammad Ali Jinnah Founder Of Pakistan

[swamidada]

It is widely believed that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was born in Karachi. But some local oral traditions say that he was born in Jherruck, a town in present-day Thatta district of Sindh. The proponents of the latter opinion point to a textbook published in Sindh in the 1950s to support their contention, which mentions that the Quaid-i-Azam was, indeed, born in Jherruck.

This controversy has been going on for a long time. Several attempts were made in the past by various authorities, including Syed Abdullah Shah — when he was serving as the provincial chief minister — as well as the district government of Thatta, who constituted committees to ascertain the facts of this claim. But it was all in vain.

While compiling a biography of Jinnah, I too confronted the same question and decided to approach the matter from three different angles, i.e., documentary evidence, personal statements of the Quaid-i-Azam on the subject and accounts rendered by his family members. Here is the outcome of the exercise. But before we proceed further, let’s briefly outline his family background as well as the two geographical entities involved in the issue, Jherruck and Karachi, as they existed at the time of his birth.

Family Background

The Quaid-i-Azam’s ancestors belonged to a village called Paneli in the princely state of Gondal in the Kathiawar region. His paternal grandfather, Poonjabhai, ran a business relating to weaving of coarse cloth in the village. He had four children: a daughter, Manbai, and three sons, Valibhai, Nathoobhai and Jinnahbhai. The youngest son, Jinnahbhai, who was born around 1850, left Paneli and established his business in Gondal town. In 1874, his parents married him off to Mithbai, a girl from their community. Finding Gondal too small for his ambitions, Jinnahbhai decided to move westward, to Sindh, which was emerging as a new centre of trade and commerce after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

An economic hub - Jherruck

Jherruck was basically a riverine port located on the Indus, about 100 kilometres from Karachi. In the absence of a viable road and rail network in the region, the British introduced an elaborate navigational system, the ‘Indus Flotilla’, with operational headquarters at Jherruck. This place offered tremendous opportunities related to trade and commerce, and attracted enterprising people from far and wide.

The controversy around Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s actual birthplace — Karachi or Jherruck — has lingered for many years. We may finally have a definitive answer

The importance of Jherruck can be gauged from the fact that Prince Hassanally, the Aga Khan I, built his house there in 1843, which still stands today. The British established a school there in 1870, five years before Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established his Aligarh institute. Describing Jherruck in 1861, George Bease wrote in Sind Directory: “Sir Charles Napier regretted that he had not chosen it [Jherruck] for the European barracks instead of Hyderabad.”

Though Karachi existed as a small settlement for a long time, it was during the British rule that it evolved into a modern city and a great seaport. The British found it suitable for their living. In the words of Bease: “The climate seems to agree well with Europeans, the average mortality being much less than any station in the Northwest provinces.”

The opening of the Suez Canal further increased Karachi’s significance, as it became British India’s closest port to Europe. In addition to that, the route through Sindh provided an easier access to Punjab, northern India and Afghanistan.

In view of the tremendous opportunities of growth, Jinnabhai moved to Karachi in the 1870s and established his business. However, there are two points of view here. One says that Jinnabhai directly came from Gondal to Karachi. The other says that he and his family stayed for a few years at Jherruck, where the Quaid-i-Azam was born and received his early education, before coming to Karachi.

Documentary Evidence

School records are considered the most authentic documentary evidence regarding a person’s birthplace. In the case of the Quaid-i-Azam, four of his school records are available to us: three at Sindh Madressatul Islam University, and one at the Church Mission School (CMS). As per these records, Jinnah’s first admission took place on July 4, 1887 at Sindh Madressatul Islam; this has been recorded in the General Register on page 7, serial number 114. Here, ‘Karachi’ has been clearly mentioned as his ‘native place’ in front of his name.

The second and third admission records also relate to his subsequent admissions at Sindh Madressatul Islam, as he was readmitted twice during a span of about four and a half years, from 1887 to 1892. The reason for his multiple admissions there was his travels to Bombay to meet his favourite aunt.

In all these records, recorded at serial numbers 178 and 430, Karachi is mentioned as his native place. His fourth school record relates to his admission in CMS in March 1892, which he took after leaving Sindh Madressatul Islam. He studied there for about seven months until October, before leaving for England. There, too, Karachi has been mentioned as his place of birth.

With such clear mention of Karachi as his birthplace in school records, the controversy should have ended there. But there was a caveat: Jherruck itself was part of Karachi district in those days. Many people in those days, like today, mentioned the names of bigger towns or district headquarters in official documents, instead of giving the exact name of their village or town!

A closer examination of the page recording Jinnah’s first admission at Sindh Madressatul Islam reveals, however, that just above his name, the entry for the student with Serial No. 113, who was also admitted on the same day, i.e., July 4, 1887, mentions “Jherruck” as his native place, while the entry relating to Jinnah says Karachi as his birthplace. If the Quaid-i-Azam had indeed been born in Jherruck, it is unlikely that Karachi would have been mentioned as his birthplace, particularly when the entry just above records Jherruck as another student’s birthplace.

Personal Statements

Next, we move to the Quaid-i-Azam’s own statements because, in matters like this, a person’s own testimony has great value. It is on record that the Quaid-i-Azam mentioned Karachi as his birthplace many times. One such occasion was the Sindh provincial Muslim League Conference held at Karachi on October 7, 1938. While delivering the presidential address, he described Karachi as well as his association with it:

“While speaking in this great city and capital of Sindh, Karachi, with the magnificent position that it occupies, the wonderful seaport and constituting as it does the first homeland for Mussalmans, it gives me no small pleasure that I should preside over a conference the likes of which have never before been seen in Sindh. You can well imagine my surging emotions when I tell you that Karachi is my birthplace, and I cannot adequately express how deeply anxious I am for its welfare.”

Another occasion when he mentioned Karachi as his birthplace was in his letter dated April 30, 1946, addressed to an astrologer of Daily Anjam, who had requested him to provide the exact time, date and place of his birth for preparing his horoscope. In his reply, Quaid-i-Azam mentioned the time of his birth as ‘early morning’, date ‘25th December 1876’ and place ‘Karachi.’

Here it is also interesting to note that, during his entire life of about 72 years, the Quaid-i-Azam neither ever mentioned Jherruck as his birthplace nor visited it even once.

Family Accounts

Yet another source of information about such matters is the accounts rendered by his family members and contemporaries. The closest to him, amongst his family members, was his sister Fatima Jinnah. She authored a book detailing his biography, titled My Brother. She candidly mentioned that their parents had shifted to Karachi in the 1870s from Gondal, and that the Quaid-i-Azam was born in Karachi.

Conclusion

The textbook passage, it seems, was based on hearsay. Another piece of information given in the same passage is that the Quaid-i-Azam passed his matriculation examination from Sindh Madressatul Islam. The fact is that the Quaid-i-Azam left Sindh Madressatul Islam while studying in fifth class — which was two years short of matriculation. Factual errors like this make the textbook passage an unreliable source of information.

Hence, the controversy over the issue of the Quaid-i-Azam’s birthplace, based on an old textbook passage, should be resolved, once and for all.

The writer is a former vice-chancellor of Sindh Madressatul Islam University and former faculty-fellow at American University, Washington DC

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 11th, 2021

https://www.dawn.com/news/1633999/histo ... innah-born

Note: Ancestors and parents of Jinnah were Khoja Ismailis. His parents first moved to Jherruk, stayed there for few years and then moved to Karachi as Jherruk at that time was main business hub of Sind. In early text books of schools his birth place was mentioned Jherruk. When Jinnah was of 10 months his family moved to Karachi, at that time there were not many Khoja Ismailis living in Karachi. It was in late 50's when govt. of Pakistan officially mentioned his birth place Karachi in official documents. Even today many living senior Ismailis believe Jinnah was born in Jherruk.

[ashraf59]

Verified/Well-known Facts:
1. Birthplace:
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was born in Karachi on December 25, 1876. This is well-documented.
2. Ancestral Roots:
His family did have Gujarati roots, and Paneli in Kathiawar (now in Gujarat) is often cited in connection with his ancestry.
3. Father’s Name:
His father’s name was Poonja Gokuldas Meghji, commonly known as Jinnahbhai Poonja.
The “Zina Bhai” anecdote is interesting but seems to be from oral tradition or community lore rather than established history.
• The Gujarati word “zina” (meaning skinny) leading to “Zina Bhai” and then morphing into Jinnah is plausible linguistically but not confirmed in academic sources.

⸻

Did Jinnah take an Agakhani (Khoja Ismaili) Scholarship?

This is an intriguing claim, but there is no widely documented or academic evidence proving that Mohammad Ali Jinnah received a scholarship from the Aga Khan or the Khoja Ismaili community.

However:
• Jinnah came from a Khoja family, which is an Ismaili Muslim sect that followed the Aga Khan.
• There are accounts that the Aga Khan III (Sultan Mohammad Shah) supported education for community youth in British India, including funding for studies abroad.
• Some biographies and community histories speculate or suggest that Jinnah may have benefitted from communal support, especially when he went to study in London at age 16.

But this is not confirmed in most mainstream but I have one book in Gujarati which claims that Zinnah took AGAKHAN Scholarship and went England for his lawyer diploma ( however he didn’t have lawyers degree.

[swamidada786]

Indeed Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in Jherruk.
Ancestors and parents of Jinnah were Khoja Ismailis. His parents first moved to Jherruk, stayed there for few years and then moved to Karachi as Jherruk at that time was main business hub of Sind. In early text books of schools his birth place was mentioned Jherruk (I have seen those school text books). When Jinnah was of 10 months his family moved to Karachi, at that time there were not many Khoja Ismailis living in Karachi. It was in late 50's when govt. of Pakistan officially mentioned his birth place Karachi in official documents. Even today many living senior Ismailis believe Jinnah was born in Jherruk. Two decades ago when I visited Jherruk, there I asked community seniors about Jinnah's birth. They confirmed Jinnah was born in Jherruk and they showed me the old house where Jinnah was born.

[ashraf59]

It may be true that Zinnah born in Jeruk and moved to Karachi but
all the books I have read it shows that he was born in Karachi your many posts
and your knowledge forces me to believe that you may be be right! Jeruk or Karachi both are in Sind State.
As a history seeker I would like to know more about your belief that Zinnah was born in Jeruk.

[swamidada786]

It may be true that Zinnah born in Jeruk and moved to Karachi but
all the books I have read it shows that he was born in Karachi your many posts
and your knowledge forces me to believe that you may be be right! Jeruk or Karachi both are in Sind State.
As a history seeker I would like to know more about your belief that Zinnah was born in Jeruk.

Please write JINNAH and not ZINNAH. Zinna means rape or adultery.
Main proof is, still there is a house (property) in name of Jinnah bhai (pronunciation is JEN(N)A and not Jinnah, Jinnah is adopted in Pakistan as Urdu speaking cann't pronounce Jen(n)a properly though Gujrati, Kachhi, and Sindhi speaking can pronounce properly). Other proof is, still alive seniors be Ismaili or Khoja Isna'ashiri confirm Muhammad Ali was born in Jherruk.
Now what happened? When Muhammad Ali was 10/12 months old his father moved to Karachi for better business opportunities. In Karachi, he rented an apartment in Wazir mansion in Kharadar. When grown up he was admitted in Sindh Madrasatul Islam school, now adays it is university. Many Karachi Ismailis before and after partition were students of madrasah among them many future Ismaili leadership. While admitting in madrasah his father mentioned Karachi as place of birth may be thinking Karachi as metro city, obviously he knew not that one day his son will be a great leader. Till early 50's in school text books Muhammad Ali's birth place was mentioned as Jherruk, I personally read those school text books that's why it is clear in my mind that he was born in Jherruk.

Some information about Sind Madrasatul Islam;
This prestigious and influential school now university was established by Hasan Ali Afandi who migrated from Iran to Sind was a distant cousin of mother of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah.

Two main changes in 50's about Muhammad Ali Jinnah in history of Pakistan;
1. Officially the place of birth declared Karachi being a metro city, and date of birth 25th December though it is disputed as some historians have mentioned October.

2. About his sect; It is well recorded that Jinnah family was Ismaili Aga Khani Khoja. Muhammad Ali was an Ismaili, but as he was secular and busy in politics, therefore attended jamait Khana less. Other reason is that he had some dispute with then Ismaili leadership.
Pakistani public in respect called him Qaid e Azam (great leader) but few religious parties taunted him as Kafir e azam. Reason is because they considered Ismaili Khoja as non Muslims.
Now how to over come this problem, the Pakistan government officially declared that though he was Agakhani but at the end of his life he converted to Sunnism, just to satisfy mullahs and 85% pakistani Sunni public.

Not only governmnet of Pakistan who declared him Sunni but on other hand Khoja Isna'ashiri (chhotti jamait) seperated from main Ismaili Khoja jamait declared that he and his sister Fatima and Shireen adopted Isna'ashiri Tariqah. Though it is true that 2 sisters and 2 brothers of Jinnah converted but there is no proof Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself declared any such thing in his life. He was follower of Aga Khan 3rd and stayed Ismaili.

[ashraf59]

Please write JINNAH and not ZINNAH. Zinna means rape or adultery.

The name was not important, but my question was important anyway. I am just wondering why he did not choose ‘Zannat’ or ‘Zibrail’ from the Gujarati word ‘Zina’? The books published and being published in Hindi, Gujarati, and even English languages are still using the word Zina.

By the way, thanks for the detailed explanation about the birthplace of Jinnah!
Name changes were not unusual at that time and not even in this time. For example, my last name is Ali, but I changed it to Agakhani—same way you used to write your name as Mazhar, and now you have changed your name to Swami Dada!!
How many times have you changed your names?