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A Secular Jinnah
In his speech to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, he said: You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed ? that has nothing to do with the business of the State.
Personally, he always advocated what today would be described as secular views. In his first speech in Pakistan he expressed an outlook that was to be a secular republic and not an Islamic theocracy, after which his political career came to a sudden halt. Born Agha Khani Ismaili Shiite Muslim, Jinnah was once asked whether he was a shia or a sunni and he said if Prophet Muhammad was a shia, then he (Jinnah) was a shia and if the Prophet was a sunni then he was a sunni, but as the Prophet was neither of the two and was but a muslim then so is he. He also declared that any Muslim who professed to be a Muslim was a Muslim, responding to demands by some quarters to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Pakistan however declared the Ahmaddiya Islamic sect, which had been very close to Jinnah during partition, out of the fold of Islam in 1974, through a constitutional amendment.
The reality of Jinnah might be in the shades of grey , as Ayesha Jalal and some other historians agree that Jinnah neither wanted a partition nor bloodshed. Jinnah was after partition seen as the "protector general of the Hindus" for his role in protecting them. He also appointed a Hindu as the first law minister of Pakistan and the first national anthem of Pakistan was written by a Hindu poet on Jinnah's behest which was later replaced by the current version written by a Muslim poet Abu-Al-Asar Hafeez Jullandhuri.
Jinnah also has some admirers in modern India. Hindu nationalist leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former Indian Prime Minister, and Lal Krishna Advani have recently commented that Jinnah was a respectable statesman and noble Muslim leader, who must not be blamed for the violence of partition or the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan. Some historians and journalists acknowledge Jinnah's work to protect Pakistani Hindus, efforts to maintain a liberal democracy there and his emotional attachment to the city of Mumbai, where he had lived for most of his life.
Personally, he always advocated what today would be described as secular views. In his first speech in Pakistan he expressed an outlook that was to be a secular republic and not an Islamic theocracy, after which his political career came to a sudden halt. Born Agha Khani Ismaili Shiite Muslim, Jinnah was once asked whether he was a shia or a sunni and he said if Prophet Muhammad was a shia, then he (Jinnah) was a shia and if the Prophet was a sunni then he was a sunni, but as the Prophet was neither of the two and was but a muslim then so is he. He also declared that any Muslim who professed to be a Muslim was a Muslim, responding to demands by some quarters to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Pakistan however declared the Ahmaddiya Islamic sect, which had been very close to Jinnah during partition, out of the fold of Islam in 1974, through a constitutional amendment.
The reality of Jinnah might be in the shades of grey , as Ayesha Jalal and some other historians agree that Jinnah neither wanted a partition nor bloodshed. Jinnah was after partition seen as the "protector general of the Hindus" for his role in protecting them. He also appointed a Hindu as the first law minister of Pakistan and the first national anthem of Pakistan was written by a Hindu poet on Jinnah's behest which was later replaced by the current version written by a Muslim poet Abu-Al-Asar Hafeez Jullandhuri.
Jinnah also has some admirers in modern India. Hindu nationalist leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former Indian Prime Minister, and Lal Krishna Advani have recently commented that Jinnah was a respectable statesman and noble Muslim leader, who must not be blamed for the violence of partition or the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan. Some historians and journalists acknowledge Jinnah's work to protect Pakistani Hindus, efforts to maintain a liberal democracy there and his emotional attachment to the city of Mumbai, where he had lived for most of his life.
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