Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Who is Muhammad Ali Jinnah?

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, revered as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader), was the principal founder of Pakistan and its first Governor-General. Born in Karachi in 1876, he trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London and built a highly successful legal practice in Bombay. He entered politics through the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League, initially championing Hindu-Muslim unity and earning the title 'ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.' Over time he became convinced that the Muslims of the subcontinent needed a separate homeland, articulating this in the Two-Nation Theory and the 1940 Lahore Resolution. Under his disciplined leadership the Muslim League won the case for partition, and Pakistan came into being on 14 August 1947. He served as its first head of state until his death in Karachi in September 1948, and remains the nation's central founding figure.

Sources: Stanley Wolpert, 'Jinnah of Pakistan' (Oxford University Press, 1984) · Ayesha Jalal, 'The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan' (Cambridge University Press, 1985)