Written by: Mahnoor Fatima
Posted on: July 30, 2021 | 
| 中文
Fatima Jinnah and the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in their Malabar Hills Home in Bombay
The history of the Pakistan Movement and its founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, is incomplete without mentioning the presence and contributions of his sister Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah. As the Mother of the Nation, she alongside her brother, worked throughout her life to ensure better political, social and economic circumstances for the Muslims of British India.
Fatima Jinnah at her residence
While it is difficult to separate her life and contributions from those of her brother, it is still worth looking at Fatima Jinnah as an independent entity, who dedicated her life to preserving her brother’s ideals and hopes of an independent Muslim homeland.
Fatima Jinnah was born in Kathiawar, Gujarat in July 1893 as the youngest of seven siblings to Jinnahbhai Poonja and Mithibai, into a family of Khoja businessmen. Despite losing her mother at the age of two, she was raised by her sisters and aunt Manbai, who became the primary feminine influence in her life. She was not raised in the purdah, (a veil), a cultural practice in Colonial India which restricted Muslim women to the private sphere.
Fatima Jinnah on a trip to Egypt
The India in which Fatima Jinnah was born was still a long way from the anti-colonial movements that were to take up so much of her time. Relatively new cities like Karachi were growing with immigrants from all over Asia, who wished to create new economic and social paths for themselves. The Quaid (who was still Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the time), diverged from his father’s dream of becoming a businessman, and instead chose to become a lawyer who imbibed liberal political thought, and was an anti-imperialist nationalist.
After the death of her father in 1902, her elder brother placed her in boarding schools in Bombay, India and was, in her own words, like both a father and a mother to her. After receiving her degree in dentistry from the prestigious University of Calcutta in 1914, she moved out of Jinnah’s Malabar Hill home in Bombay in 1918 after he married Rattanbai Petit, and opened her own dental clinic in 1929.
Following the death of Rattanbai in 1929, Fatima Jinnah closed her clinic and moved in with her brother to take care of his house, though she continued her professional and volunteer work. By spending so much of her early adult life with her brother as his career evolved, Fatima Jinnah listened carefully and began to understand the political and social issues of her time. She came to hold similar opinions about the discrimination faced by Muslims in terms of political participation and upward mobility. However, she was a long way from participating in politics or in any of the women’s groups active in her time.
Fatima Jinnah with the Girl Guides Association
Historians have acknowledged that Fatima Jinnah was not particularly fond of other women in her brother’s circle, nor the more fun-loving aspects of his personality. But, the archives clearly state how heavily the Quaid leaned on Fatima Jinnah to maintain order in his personal life. In a well-documented interview, he said, “My sister was like a bright ray of light and hope whenever I came back home and met her. Anxieties would have been much greater and my health much worse, but for the restraint imposed by her. She is a constant source of help and encouragement to me.”
As the struggle for Muslim representation in politics evolved into a quest for an independent Muslim nation, the Quaid was insistent that women participate as equal partners in politics and civil mobilization. While the purdah remained an option as a cultural practice, the Quaid’s ideal nation was one of female emancipation. He demonstrated his commitment to equal participation by including his sister in both the high-profile political conferences and public campaign rallies.
Many of the letters sent to the Quaid by other politicians and dignitaries mentioned Fatima Jinnah’s work alongside that of the Quaid. Standing on stage at the Muslim League rallies with her brother, she represented an ideal for women in the incipient Muslim nation. This was not lost on Jinnah, who remained committed to a singular vision of Pakistan, which she shared with her brother.
(L to R) Sir Aga Khan, Fatima Jinnah and Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
In the aftermath of the horrors of Partition and the administrative shortcomings of the nation, Fatima Jinnah and other women worked tirelessly to provide relief and rehabilitation to the displaced and traumatized. She also formed the Women’s Relief Committee, which later became the nucleus for Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan to form the All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA).
After the Quaid’s passing, Fatima Jinnah returned to politics in the 1960’s, to contest the 1965 elections against the military dictator Ayub Khan. She rallied against the dictatorship and came to symbolize the ideals of the Quaid and Muslim League, which she believed were lost due to poor administrative policies. While she narrowly lost the elections, people in Pakistan came in throngs to see her rallies, and hear her speak of the Quaid’s vision for an equal and just Pakistan. In a famous historical speech to the nation in 1967, she very boldly opposed the ruling party with a Shakespearan quote, “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”
Fatima Jinnah with Ayub Khan
Fatima Jinnah passed away in July 1967, and was given a state funeral before being buried next to her brother at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi. In the later years of her life and long after her death, she has affectionately remained Madr-i-Millat (Mother of the Nation) for her contributions to the cause of Pakistan. Her biography of the Quaid, titled My Brother, was released in 1987, and gave a fascinating insight into the inner life of the Father of the Nation.
Recent scholarship has begun to celebrate and acknowledge Fatima Jinnah as a woman with a mind of her own, who was charismatic and did not hesitate to voice her opinions and take political positions even in the politically stifling climate of Ayub Khan’s rule. She was a medical practitioner who rose from humble origins and sacrificed her professional trajectory, and campaigned alongside her male contemporaries for the emancipation and political participation of Muslims, challenging both colonial and military rule. As Lawerence Ziring wrote, “Fatima’s legacy, whether it was her aspiration or not, made it possible for subsequent generations of Pakistani women to contemplate high, political office.”
Fatima Jinnah addressing a crowd in an election rally in East Pakistan
Fatima Jinnah’s legacy and contributions cannot be limited to one realm or issue, for she expressed her commitment to Pakistan through both her words, her actions, and her single-minded goal to put on record the concept of Pakistan as envisioned by the Quaid. She explained, “The movement of Pakistan, which the Quaid-e-Azam launched was ethical in inspiration and ideological in content. The story of this movement is a story of the ideals of equality, fraternity and social and economic justice struggling against the forces of domination, exploitation, intolerance and tyranny.”
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