Indian subcontinent

Area	4.4 million km2 (1.7 million mi²)
Population	~1.7 billion
Demonym	Subcontinental

The Indian subcontinent is a region of Asia situated mostly on the Indian tectonic plate.

Definition[link]

According to political science professor Tatu Vanhanen, "The seven countries of South Asia constitute geographically a compact region around the Indian Subcontinent";^[1] while according to anthropologist John R. Lukacs, "The Indian Subcontinent occupies the major landmass of South Asia."^[2] According to Chris Brewster, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan constitute the Indian Subcontinent; with Afghanistan and Maldives included it is more commonly referred to as South Asia.^[3]

Nomenclature[link]

The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are used interchangeably.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} In Religions of South Asia, Sushil Mittal and Gene R. Thursby state that Indian Subcontinent and South Asia is referred to as the same area.^[9] Due to political sensitivities, some prefer to use the terms "South Asian Subcontinent",^[10][10][11] the "Indo-Pak Subcontinent",^[12] "the Subcontinent", or simply "South Asia"^[13] over the term "Indian subcontinent". According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Indian Subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."^[13] Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term "South Asia" is getting more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia.^[14] Some academics hold that the term "South Asia" is in more common use in Europe and North America, rather than the terms "Subcontinent" or the "Indian Subcontinent".^[15][16] While using both terms to mean the same region in Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia Dr. William Gould of University of Leeds explains that "South Asia" is a geopolitical as well as a geographical term.^[17]

Scope[link]

The definition of the geographical extent of Indian subcontinent varies. Historically forming the whole territory of Greater India, now it generally comprises the countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh;^[18] prior to 1947, the three nations were historically combined and constituted British India. It almost always also includes Nepal, Bhutan, and the island country of Sri Lanka^[19] and may also include Afghanistan and the island country of Maldives.^[4][20][21] The region may also include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which was part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but is now administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang.^[22] A booklet published by the United States Department of State in 1959 includes Afghanistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, Nepal, and Pakistan (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) as part of the "Subcontinent of South Asia".^[23] When the term Indian subcontinent is used to mean South Asia, the islands countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives may sometimes not be included,^[4] while Tibet and Nepal may be included^[24] or excluded^[25] intermittently, depending on the context.

Geography[link]

Geographically, the Indian subcontinent is a peninsular region in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east,^[26] and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast.^[4][18] Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.^[27][28] The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia, forming a land mass which extends from the Himalayas into a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia, as well as Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, ^[29][30][31] and extending up to but not including Ladakh, Kohistan, the Hindu Kush range and Balochistan.^[32][33][34] Counting India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives as the constituent countries of Indian Subcontinent, it covers about 4.4 million km² (1.7 million mi²), which is 10% of the Asian continent or 2.4% of the world's land surface area.^[35][36] Overall, it accounts for about 34% of Asia's population (or over 16.5% of the world's population) and is home to a vast array of peoples.^[35][37][36]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Flora of the Indian Subcontinent

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References[link]

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Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal Abu `Abd Allah al-Shaybani (Arabic: احمد بن محمد بن حنبل ابو عبد الله الشيباني‎) was an important Muslim scholar and theologian. He is considered the founder of the Hanbali school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Imam Ahmad is one of the most celebrated Sunni theologians, often referred to as "Sheikh ul-Islam"<sup>[8]</sup> or the "Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah," honorifics given to the most esteemed doctrinal authorities in the Sunni tradition. Imam Ahmad personified the theological views of the early orthodox scholars, including the founders of the other extant schools of Sunni fiqh, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik ibn Anas, and Imam ash-Shafi`i.

Biography[link]

Early life and family[link]

Legal writings, produced October 879.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal's family was originally from Basra, Iraq, and belonged to the Arab Banu Shayban tribe.^[9] His father was an officer in the Abbasid army in Khorasan and later settled with his family in Baghdad, where Ahmad was born in 780 CE.^[2]

Ibn Hanbal had two wives and several children, including an older son, who later became a judge in Isfahan.^[8]

Education and Work[link]

Ibn Hanbal studied extensively in Baghdad, and later traveled to further his education. He started learning jurisprudence (Fiqh) under the celebrated Hanafi judge, Abu Yusuf, the renowned student and companion of Imam Abu Hanifah. After finishing his studies with Abu Yusuf, ibn Hanbal began traveling through Iraq, Syria, and Arabia to collect hadiths, or traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. Ibn al-Jawzi states that Imam Ahmad had 414 Hadith masters whom he narrated from. With this knowledge, he became a leading authority on the hadith, leaving an immense encyclopedia of hadith, the al-Musnad. After several years of travel, he returned to Baghdad to study Islamic law under al-Shafi. He became a mufti in his old age, but is remembered most famously, as the founder of the Hanbali madhab or school of Islamic law, which is now most dominant in Saudi Arabia, Qatar as well as the United Arab Emirates. ^{[10][11] [12]}

In addition to his scholastic enterprises, ibn Hanbal was a soldier on the Islamic frontiers (Ribat) and made Hajj five times in his life, twice on foot.^[13]

Death[link]

Ibn Hanbal died in 855 CE in Baghdad, Iraq.

The Mihna[link]

Ibn Hanbal was famously called before the Inquisition or Mihna of the Abassid Caliph al-Ma'mun. Al-Ma'mun wanted to assert the religious authority of the Caliph by pressuring scholars to adopt the Mu'tazila view that the Qur'an was created rather than uncreated. According to Sunni tradition, ibn Hanbal was among the scholars to resist the Caliph's interference and the Mu'tazzila doctrine of a created Qur'an—although primary sources differ on whether or not he remained steadfast. ^[14]

However, according to Sunni tradition, due to his refusal to accept Mu'tazilite authority, ibn Hanbal was imprisoned in Baghdad throughout the reign of al-Ma'mun. In an incident during the rule of al-Ma'mun's successor, al-Mu'tasim, ibn Hanbal was flogged to unconsciousness. However, this caused upheaval in Baghdad and al-Ma'mun was forced to release ibn Hanbal. ^[13] After al-Mu’tasim’s death, al-Wathiq became caliph and continued his predecessors policies of Mu'tazilite enforcement and in this pursuit, he banished ibn Hanbal from Baghdad. It was only after al-Wathiqu's death and the ascent of his brother al-Mutawakkil, who was much friendlier to the more traditional Sunni dogma, that ibn Hanbal was welcomed back to Baghdad.

Works[link]

The following books are found in Ibn al-Nadim's Fihrist:

• Kitab al-`Ilal wa Ma‘rifat al-Rijal: "The Book of Narrations Containing Hidden Flaws and of Knowledge of the Men (of Hadeeth)" Riyad: Al-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah
• Kitab al-Manasik: "The Book of the Rites of Hajj"
• Kitab al-Zuhd: "The Book of Abstinence" ed. Muhammad Zaghlul, Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi, 1994
• Kitab al-Iman: "The Book of Faith"
• Kitab al-Masa'il "Issues in Fiqh"
• Kitab al-Ashribah: "The Book of Drinks"
• Kitab al-Fada'il Sahaba: "Virtues of the Companions"
• Kitab Tha'ah al-Rasul : "The Book of Obedience to the Messenger"
• Kitab Mansukh: "The Book of Abrogation"
• Kitab al-Fara'id: "The Book of Obligatory Duties"
• Kitab al-Radd `ala al-Zanadiqa wa'l-Jahmiyya "Refutations of the Heretics and the Jahmites" (Cairo: 1973)
• Tafsir : "Exegesis"
• the Musnad

Quotes[link]

• It is said that, when told that it was religiously permissible to say what pleases his persecuters without believing in it at the time of mihna, Ahmad said "If I remained silent and you remained silent, then who will teach the ignorant?".
• With regard to innovation within religion, Ahmad said “The graves of sinners from People of Sunnah is a garden, while the graves of the pious ascetics from the People of Innovation is a barren pit. The pious among Ahlus Sunnah are the Friends of Allah, while the sinners among Ahlul-Bidah are the Enemies of Allah.”^[15]

Historical views[link]

• Imam Abu Dawood, who was a collector of prophetic hadith stated:

  "The lectures of Ahmad were sittings of the Hereafter. He would not mention in them anything of the worldly affairs; and I never saw him mention this world."

• The Hanafi scholar Yahya ibn Ma'in stated:

  “I have not seen the like of Ahmad, we have accompanied him for fifty years, and he never boasted about anything from the good which he was characterized with.”^[8]

• When Abdul-Qadir Gilani was asked whether there existed a person who was a wali of Allah who was upon a creed other than the creed of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Gilani answered:

  "That has not occurred and will never occur.”^[8]

See also[link]

• Athari
• Hanbali

References[link]

Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ibn Hanbal

Further reading[link]

• Ibn al-Jawzi, Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad
• Nadwi, S. A. H. A., Saviors of Islamic Spirit (Vol. 1), translated by Mohiuddin Ahmad, Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, Lucknow, 1971.
• Melchert, Christopher, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Makers of the Muslim World), Oneworld, 2006.

External links[link]

• Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal: Life & Madhab
• Diagram of teachers and students of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Ahmed Raza (October 10, 1988) is a Pakistani-born United Arab Emirates cricketer who currently plays for the United Arab Emirates. Raza is a left-handed batsman who bowls slow left-arm orthodox.

Raza made his List-A debut against India A in 2006. In 2007 Raza made his first-class debut against Scotland in the 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup and has since gone on to represent the UAE in six first class matches. In the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup Raza was the UAE's joint leading wicket taker with twelve wickets along with Moiz Shahid.

External links[link]

• Ahmed Raza on CricketArchive

This biographical article related to United Arab Emirati cricket is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Urdu: محمد علی جناح,  Audio (help·info); 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a lawyer, politician and statesman who is known as being the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as 'Quaid-e-Azam' (lit. Great Leader) and 'Baba-e-Qaum' (lit. Father of the Nation).

Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from 15 August 1947 until his death on 11 September 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League. He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.

Jinnah later advocated the two-nation theory embracing the goal of creating a separate Muslim state as per the Lahore Resolution.^[7] The League won most reserved Muslim seats in the elections of 1946. After the British and Congress backed out of the Cabinet Mission Plan Jinnah called for a Direct Action Day to achieve the formation of Pakistan. This direct action^[8][9] by the Muslim League and its Volunteer Corps resulted in massive rioting in Calcutta^[9][10] between Muslims and Hindus.^[10][11] As the Indian National Congress and Muslim League failed to reach a power sharing formula for united India, it prompted both the parties and the British to agree to the independence of Pakistan and India. As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah led efforts to lay the foundations of the new state of Pakistan, frame national policies and rehabilitate millions of Muslim refugees who had migrated from India. Jinnah also assumed the role and title of 'Protector General of the Hindu Minority' during Hindu-Muslim riots after 1947.^[12] Jinnah died aged 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire. Jinnah left a deep and respected legacy in Pakistan, and according to Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah remained Pakistan's greatest leader since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.^[13]

Early life[link]

Jinnah in his youth, in traditional dress.

Jinnah was born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai (Gujarati: મુહમ્મદ અલી જિન્નાભાઈ)^[14] to the Gujarati-speaking Jinnah family in Wazir Mansion, Karachi in Sindh, a region within the Bombay Presidency of British India. Some sources suggest that he was born in the town of Jhirk.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} Jinnah's first biographer, Sarojini Naidu, as well as his official passport, state the date of birth as 25 December 1876.^[20][21][22]

Jinnah was the second child born to Mithibai and Jinnahbhai Poonja. His father was a prosperous Gujarati merchant who came from the region now known as Gujarat and subsequently moved to Karachi some time before Jinnah's birth.^[15][23][24] Jinnah's family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam,^[1] though Jinnah later converted to Twelver Khoja Shi'a Islam.^{[2][5][6][25]} He had three brothers and three sisters, including Fatima Jinnah, all of whom became multilingual, speaking Gujarati, Kutchi, Sindhi and English.^[26]

Jinnah studied at several schools: first at the Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam in Karachi; then briefly at the Gokal Das Tej Primary School in Bombay; and finally at the Christian Missionary Society High School in Karachi,^[14] where, at the age of 16, he passed the matriculation examination of the University of Bombay.^[27][28]

Years in England[link]

Jinnah was offered an apprenticeship at the London office of Graham's Shipping and Trading Company, a business that had extensive dealings with Jinnahbhai Poonja's firm in Karachi.^[14] Before he left for England in 1892, at his mother's urging, he married his distant cousin, Emibai Jinnah, who was two years his junior;^[14] she died a few months later.^[29] During his sojourn in England his mother also died.^[24] In London, Jinnah soon gave up the apprenticeship to study law instead, by joining Lincoln's Inn. It is said that the sole reason of Jinnah's joining Lincoln's Inn is that the main entrance to the Lincoln's Inn had the names of the world's all-time top-ten lawgivers, and that this list was led by the name Muhammad.^[24][30] This story, however, has not been proven.^[31] In three years, at age 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England.^[24]

During his student years in England, Jinnah was influenced by 19th-century British liberalism, like many other future Indian independence leaders. This education included exposure to the idea of the democratic nation and progressive politics.^[29] He particularly admired William Gladstone and John Morley, British liberal statesmen.^{[citation needed]} An admirer of the Indian political leaders Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Pherozeshah Mehta,^[32][29] he worked with other Indian students on the former's successful campaign to become the first Indian to hold a seat in the British Parliament.^{[citation needed]}

By now, Jinnah had developed largely constitutionalist views on Indian self-government, and he condemned both the arrogance of British officials in India and the discrimination practiced by them against Indians. This idea of a nation legitimized by democratic principles and cultural commonalities was antithetical to the genuine diversity that had generally characterized the subcontinent. As an Indian intellectual and political authority, Jinnah would find his commitment to the Western ideal of the nation-state developed during his English education– and the reality of heterogeneous Indian society to be difficult to reconcile during his later political career.^{[citation needed]}

Muhmmad Ali Jinnah's passport issued by the British Raj.

Western influences on personal life[link]

The Western world not only inspired Jinnah in his political life. England had greatly influenced his personal preferences, particularly when it came to dress. Jinnah donned Western style clothing and he pursued the fashion with fervor. It is said he owned over 200 hand-tailored suits which he wore with heavily starched shirts with detachable collars. It is also alleged that he never wore the same silk tie twice.^[33][34] Although in his later years he was most commonly seen wearing Sherwani and Karakul hat which subsequently came to be known as the "Jinnah cap".

Return to India[link]

During the final period of his stay in England, Jinnah came under considerable pressure to return home when his father's business was under a financial crisis.^[35][36] In 1896 he returned to India and settled in Bombay. Jinnah built a house in Malabar Hill, later known as Jinnah House. He became a lawyer, gaining particular fame for his skilled handling of the "Caucus Case".^[32] This prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defence counsel for his sedition trial in 1908 but Jinnah lost that case, resulting in a rigorous term of imprisonment for Tilak. Jinnah unsuccessfully argued that it was not sedition for an Indian to demand freedom and self-government in his own country.^[32] Jinnah was never reputed to be a successful lawyer, having lost most of the cases he advocated, but the political importance those cases and his general fame as a political leader made him a popular choice for many in the Indian subcontinent.^[37]

When he returned to India his faith in liberalism and progressive politics was confirmed through his close association with three Indian National Congress stalwarts Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Surendranath Banerjee. These people had an influence in his early life in England and they would influence his later involvement in Indian politics.^[38]

Early political career[link]

In 1906, Jinnah joined the Indian National Congress,^[22] which was the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties of subcontinent.^[39][40][41] Like most of the Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favor outright independence, considering British influences on education, law, culture and industry as beneficial to India.^{[citation needed]} Jinnah became a member on the 60-member Imperial Legislative Council. The council had no real power, and included a large number of un-elected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental in the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimization of the Muslim waqf (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, which helped establish the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun.^[15][42] During World War I, Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort, hoping that Indians would be rewarded with political freedoms.

In April, 1913 he again went to England and met Ghokle. For providing Indian students a platform in England, he made London Indian Association.^[37] Jinnah had initially avoided joining the All India Muslim League, founded in 1906, regarding it as too Muslim oriented. However, he decided to provide leadership to the Muslim minority. Eventually, he joined the League in 1913 on persuasion of Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar and Syed Wazir Hasan^[37] and became the president at the 1916 session in Lucknow. Jinnah was the architect of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the League, bringing them together on most issues regarding self-government and presenting a united front to the British. Jinnah also played an important role in the founding of the All India Home Rule League in 1916. Along with political leaders Annie Besant and Tilak, Jinnah demanded "home rule" for India—the status of a self-governing dominion in the Empire similar to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He headed the League's Bombay Presidency chapter.

In 1918, Jinnah married his second wife Rattanbai Petit ("Ruttie"), 24 years his junior.^[29] She was the fashionable young daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit, of an elite Parsi family of Bombay.^[29] Unexpectedly, there was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai's family and the Parsi community, as well as orthodox Muslim leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally converted to Islam, adopting (though never using) the name Maryam Jinnah, resulting in a permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided in Bombay, and frequently travelled across India and Europe. In August 15,1919 she bore Jinnah his only child, daughter Dina Jinnah.^[43][29]

In 1924, Jinnah reorganized the Muslim League, of which he had been president since 1916, and devoted the next seven years attempting to bring about unity among the disparate ranks of Muslims and to develop a rational formula to effect a Hindu-Muslim settlement, which he considered the pre condition for Indian freedom. He attended several unity conferences, wrote the Delhi Muslim Proposals in 1927, pleaded for the incorporation of the basic Muslim demands in the Nehru report, and formulated the “Fourteen Points”.^[44]

Fourteen points[link]

Jinnah broke with the Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader, Mohandas Gandhi, launched a Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, which Jinnah disapproved of. Unlike most Congress leaders, Gandhi did not wear western-style clothing, did his best to use an Indian language instead of English, and was deeply rooted in Indian culture. Gandhi's local style of leadership gained great popularity with the Indian people. Jinnah criticized Gandhi's support of the Khilafat Movement, which he saw as an endorsement of religious zealotry.^[45] Jinnah quit the Congress, with a prophetic warning that Gandhi's method of mass struggle would lead to divisions between Hindus and Muslims and within the two communities.^[42] Becoming president of the Muslim League, Jinnah was drawn into a conflict between a pro-Congress faction and a pro-British faction.

In September 1923, Jinnah was elected as Muslim member for Bombay in the new Central Legislative Assembly. He showed great gifts as a parliamentarian, organized many Indian members to work with the Swaraj Party, and continued to press demands for full responsible government. He was so active on a wide range of subjects that in 1925 he was offered a knighthood by Lord Reading, who was retiring from the position of Viceroy and Governor General. Jinnah replied: "I prefer to be plain Mr. Jinnah".^[46]

In 1927, Jinnah entered negotiations with Muslim and Hindu leaders on the issue of a future constitution, during the struggle against the all-British Simon Commission. The League wanted separate electorates while the Nehru Report favoured joint electorates. Jinnah personally opposed separate electorates, but then drafted compromises and put forth demands that he thought would satisfy both. These became known as the 14 points of Mr. Jinnah.^[47] However, they were rejected by the Congress and other political parties.

Jinnah's personal life and especially his marriage suffered during this period due to his political work. Although they worked to save their marriage by travelling together to Europe when he was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, the couple separated in 1927. Jinnah was deeply saddened when Rattanbai died in 1929, after a serious illness.^{[citation needed]}

Also in 1929, Jinnah defended Ilm-ud-din, a carpenter who murdered a Hindu book publisher for publishing the book "Rangeela Rasool" which was alleged to be offensive towards the Prophet Muhammad. Jinnah's involvement in this controversy showed a greater inclination towards Islamic politics and a shift away from being an advocate for Hindu-Muslim unity.^[48]

At the Round Table Conferences in London, Jinnah was disillusioned by the breakdown of talks.^[49] After the failure of the Round Table Conferences, Jinnah returned to London for a few years. In 1936, he returned to India to reorganize Muslim League and contest elections held under the provisions of the 1935 Act.^[50]

Jinnah would receive personal care and support as he became more ill during this time from his sister Fatima Jinnah. She lived and travelled with him, as well as becoming a close advisor.^[51] She helped raise his daughter, who was educated in England and India. Jinnah later became estranged from his daughter, Dina Jinnah, after she decided to marry Christian businessman, Neville Wadia (even though he had faced the same issues when he married Rattanbai in 1918). Jinnah continued to correspond cordially with his daughter, but their personal relationship was strained. Dina continued to live in India with her family.

Leader of the Muslim League[link]

Jinnah with his sister Fatima Jinnah (left) and daughter Dina (right) in Bombay

Jinnah moved to London in 1930 for political dialogue with the British government and work for the representation of Indian Muslims in Britain. During this period, he participated in the 1930 Round Table Conference. Due to his firm position regarding the rights of minorities in British India, Congress leaders was not happy with him. As a result, due to the British-Congress companionship, he was not invited for the next two conferences.^[52] Jinnah decided to stay in Britain so that he could convince British politicians about the state of affairs in India. He worked in the Privy Council Bar during this period. Muslims of Bombay elected him in his absence as their representative for the Central Legislative Assembly in October 1934.^[53] In 1934, Jinnah returned India and began to reorganize the party, being closely assisted by Liaquat Ali Khan, who visited Jinnah in London in 1933 and would act as his right-hand man. In the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly, the League emerged as a competent party, capturing a significant number of seats under the system of separate electorates, but lost in the Muslim-majority Punjab,^[54] Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province.^[55] Jinnah offered an alliance with the Congress—both bodies would face the British together, but the Congress had to share power, accept separate electorates and the League as the representative of India's Muslims. The latter two terms were unacceptable to the Congress, which had its own national Muslim leaders and membership and adhered to secularism. Even as Jinnah held talks with Congress president Rajendra Prasad,^[56] Congress leaders suspected that Jinnah would use his position as a lever for exaggerated demands and obstruct government, and demanded that the League merge with the Congress.^[57] The talks failed, and while Jinnah declared the resignation of all Congressmen from provincial and central offices in 1939 as a "Day of Deliverance" from Hindu domination,^[58] some historians assert that he remained hopeful about an agreement.^[56]

In a speech given at Allahabad to the League in 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal came up with an idea of a state for Muslims in "northwest India." Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in 1933 advocating a state called "Pakistan". Following the failure to work with the Congress, Jinnah, who had embraced separate electorates and the exclusive right of the League to represent Muslims, was converted to the idea that Muslims needed a separate state to protect their rights. Jinnah came to believe that Muslims and Hindus were distinct nations, with unbridgeable differences—a view later known as the Two Nation Theory.^[59] Jinnah declared that a united India would lead to the marginalization of Muslims, and eventually civil war between Hindus and Muslims. This change of view may have occurred through his correspondence with Iqbal, who was close to Jinnah.^[60] In the session in Lahore in 1940, the Pakistan resolution was adopted as the main goal of the party. The resolution was rejected outright by the Congress, and criticized by some Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Syed Ab'ul Ala Maududi.

In 1941, Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded Dawn, a major newspaper that helped him propagate the League's point of views. During the mission of British minister Stafford Cripps, Jinnah demanded parity between the number of Congress and League ministers, the League's exclusive right to appoint Muslims and a right for Muslim-majority provinces to secede, leading to the breakdown of talks. Jinnah supported the British effort in World War II, and opposed the Quit India movement. During this period, the League formed provincial governments and entered the central government. The League's influence increased in the Punjab after the death of Unionist leader Sikander Hyat Khan in 1942. Gandhi held talks 14 times with Jinnah in Bombay in 1944,^[61] about a united front—while talks failed, Gandhi's overtures to Jinnah increased the latter's standing with Muslims.^[62]

Founding of Pakistan[link]

In the 1946 elections for the Constituent Assembly of India, the Congress won most of the elected seats, while the League won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The 1946 British Cabinet Mission to India released a plan on 16 May, calling for a united Indian state comprising considerably autonomous provinces, and called for "groups" of provinces formed on the basis of religion. A second plan released on 16 June, called for the separation of India along religious lines, with princely states to choose between accession to the dominion of their choice or independence. The Congress, fearing India's fragmentation, criticised the 16 May proposal and rejected the 16 June plan. Jinnah gave the League's assent to both plans, knowing that power would go only to the party that had supported a plan. After much debate and against Gandhi's advice that both plans were divisive, the Congress accepted the 16 May plan while condemning the grouping principle.^{[citation needed]} Jinnah decried this acceptance as "dishonesty", accused the British negotiators of "treachery",^[63] and withdrew the League's approval of both plans. The League boycotted the assembly, leaving the Congress in charge of the government but denying it legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims.

Jinnah gave a precise definition of the term 'Pakistan' in 1941 at Lahore in which he stated:

Some confusion prevails in the minds of some individuals in regard to the use of the word 'Pakistan'. This word has become synonymous with the Lahore resolution owing to the fact that it is a convenient and compendious method of describing [it].... For this reason the British and Indian newspapers generally have adopted the word 'Pakistan' to describe the Moslem demand as embodied in the Lahore resolution.^[64]

Jinnah issued a call for all Muslims to launch "Direct Action" on 16 August to "achieve Pakistan".^[65] Strikes and protests were planned, but violence broke out all over India, especially in Calcutta and the district of Noakhali in Bengal, and more than 7,000 people were killed in Bihar. Although viceroy Lord Wavell asserted that there was "no satisfactory evidence to that effect",^[66] League politicians were blamed by the Congress and the media for orchestrating the violence.^[67] Interim Government portfolios were announced on 25 October 1946.^[68] Muslim Leaguers were sworn in on 26 October 1946.^[69] The League entered the interim government, but Jinnah refrained from accepting office for himself. This was credited as a major victory for Jinnah, as the League entered government having rejected both plans, and was allowed to appoint an equal number of ministers despite being the minority party. The coalition was unable to work, resulting in a rising feeling within the Congress that independence of Pakistan was the only way of avoiding political chaos and possible civil war. The Congress agreed to the division of Punjab and Bengal along religious lines in late 1946. The new viceroy Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Indian civil servant V. P. Menon proposed a plan that would create a Muslim dominion in West Punjab, East Bengal, Baluchistan and Sindh. After heated and emotional debate, the Congress approved the plan.^[70] The North-West Frontier Province voted to join Pakistan in a referendum in July 1947. Jinnah asserted in a speech in Lahore on 30 October 1947 that the League had accepted independence of Pakistan because "the consequences of any other alternative would have been too disastrous to imagine."^[71]

The independent state of Pakistan, created on 14 August 1947, represented the outcome of a campaign on the part of the Indian Muslim community for a Muslim homeland which had been triggered by the British decision to consider transferring power to the people of India.^[72]

Louis Mountbatten and Jinnah

Jinnah's vision for Pakistan[link]

While giving an interview to American press representatives in July 1942, when asked by one of the journalists whether the Muslims were a nation or not, Jinnah replied:

We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law we are a nation.^[73]

Muhammad Ali Jinnah's will, excerpt

On the opening ceremony of the State Bank of Pakistan Jinnah pointed out that the financial set-up of the state should be based on Islamic economic system, saying:

We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission as Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind. Speech at the opening ceremony of State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi 1 July 1948

Jinnah felt that the state of Pakistan should stand upon true Islamic tradition in culture, civilization and national identity rather than on the principles of Islam as a theocratic state.^[74]

In 1937, Jinnah further defended his ideology of equality in his speech to the All-India Muslim League in Lucknow where he stated, "Settlement can only be achieved between equals."^[75] He also had a rebuttal to Nehru's statement which argued that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British Raj and INC. Jinnah stated that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics.^[76]

Governor-General[link]

Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Mohandas Gandhi in Bombay, September 1944.

Along with Liaquat Ali Khan and Abdur Rab Nishtar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah represented the League in the Division Council to appropriately divide public assets between India and Pakistan.^[77] The assembly members from the provinces that would comprise Pakistan formed the new state's constituent assembly, and the Military of British India was divided between Muslim and non-Muslim units and officers. Indian leaders were angered at Jinnah's courting the princes of Jodhpur, Bhopal and Indore to accede to Pakistan – these princely states were not geographically aligned with Pakistan, and each had a Hindu-majority population.^[78]

Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan and president of its constituent assembly. Inaugurating the assembly on 11 August 1947, Jinnah spoke of an inclusive and pluralist democracy promising equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion, caste or creed. This address is a cause of much debate in Pakistan as, on its basis, many claim that Jinnah wanted a secular state while supporters of Islamic Pakistan assert that this speech is being taken out of context when compared to other speeches by him.

On 11 October 1947, in an address to Civil, Naval, Military and Air Force Officers of Pakistan Government in Karachi, he said:

We should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play.^[79]

On 21 February 1948, in an address to the officers and men of the 5th Heavy and 6th Light Regiments in Malir, Karachi, he said:

You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil. With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.^[80]

The office of governor general was ceremonial, but Jinnah also assumed the lead of government. The first months of Pakistan's independence were absorbed in ending the intense violence that had arisen in the wake of acrimony between Hindus and Muslims. Jinnah agreed with Indian leaders to organize a swift and secure exchange of populations in Punjab and Bengal. He visited the border regions with Indian leaders to calm people and encourage peace, and organised large-scale refugee camps. Despite these efforts, estimates on the death toll vary from around 200,000, to over a million people.^[81][82] The estimated number of refugees in both countries exceeds 15 million.^[83] The then capital city of Karachi saw an explosive increase in its population owing to the large encampments of refugees, which personally affected and depressed Jinnah.^[84]

In his first visit to East Pakistan, under the advice of local party leaders, Jinnah stressed that Urdu alone should be the national language; a policy that was strongly opposed by the Bengali people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This opposition grew after he controversially described Bengali as the language of Hindus.^[85][86]

He controversially accepted the accession of Junagadh—a Hindu-majority state with a Muslim ruler located in the Saurashtra peninsula, some 400 kilometres (250 mi) southeast of Pakistan—but this was annulled by Indian intervention. It is unclear if Jinnah planned or knew of the tribal invasion from Pakistan into the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947, but he did send his private secretary K.H. Khurshid to observe developments in Kashmir. When informed of Kashmir's accession to India, Jinnah deemed the accession illegitimate and ordered the Pakistani army to enter Kashmir.^[87] However, Gen. Auchinleck, the supreme commander of all British officers informed Jinnah that while India had the right to send troops to Kashmir, which had acceded to it, Pakistan did not. If Jinnah persisted, Auchinleck would remove all British officers from both sides. As Pakistan had a greater proportion of Britons holding senior command, Jinnah cancelled his order, but protested to the United Nations to intercede.^[87]

Illness and death[link]

Tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi, Pakistan

Through the 1940s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. In 1948, Jinnah's health began to falter, hindered further by the heavy workload that had put upon him following Pakistan's creation. Attempting to recuperate, he spent many months at his official retreat in Ziarat. According to his sister, he suffered a hemorrhage on 1 September 1948; doctors said the altitude was not good for him and that he should be taken to Karachi. Jinnah was flown back to Karachi from Quetta.

Jinnah died at 10:20 p.m. at the Governor-General's House in Karachi on 11 September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan's creation.

It is said that when the viceroy of India at that point of time, Lord Louis Mountbatten, learned of Jinnah's ailment he said 'had they known that Jinnah was about to die, they'd have postponed India's independence by a few months as he was being inflexible on Pakistan'.^[88]

Jinnah was buried in Karachi.^[89] His funeral was followed by the construction of a massive mausoleum, Mazar-e-Quaid, in Karachi to honour him; official and military ceremonies are hosted there on special occasions.

He had two separate funeral prayers: one was held privately at Mohatta Palace in a room of the Governor-General's House at which Yusuf Haroon, Hashim Raza and Aftab Hatim Alvi were present at the namaz-e-janaza held according to Shia rituals and was led by Syed Aneesul Husnain,^[1] while Liaquat Ali Khan waited outside. After the Shia prayers, the major public funeral prayers were led by Allamah Shabbir Ahmad Usmani a renowned Deobandi Muslim scholar, and attended by the masses from all over Pakistan.

Dina Wadia remained in India after independence, before ultimately settling in New York City. Jinnah's grandson, Nusli Wadia, is a prominent industrialist in Mumbai. In the 1964-65 elections, Jinnah's sister Fatima Jinnah, known as Madar-e-Millat ("Mother of the Nation"), became the presidential candidate of a coalition of political parties that opposed the rule of President Ayub Khan, but lost due to rigging of elections in favour of Ayub Khan.^[90]

The Jinnah House in Malabar Hill, Bombay, is in the possession of the Government of India but the issue of its ownership has been disputed by the Government of Pakistan.^[91] Jinnah had personally requested Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to preserve the house and that one day he could return to Mumbai. There are proposals for the house be offered to the government of Pakistan to establish a consulate in the city, as a goodwill gesture, but Dina Wadia has also laid claim to the property, claiming that Hindu law is applicable to Jinnah as he was a Khoja Shia.^[4][91]

After Jinnah died, Fatima Jinnah had asked the court to execute Jinnah's will under Shia law. Jinnah's family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam, but Jinnah left that branch in 1901.^[1] Vali Nasr says Jinnah "was an Ismaili by birth and a Twelver Shia by confession, though not a religiously observant man."^[2] In a 1970 legal challenge, Hussain Ali Ganji Walji claimed Jinnah had converted to Sunni Islam, but the High court rejected this claim in 1976, effectively accepting the Jinnah family as Shia.^[92] Publicly, Jinnah had a non-sectarian stance and "was at pains to gather the Muslims of India under the banner of a general Muslim faith and not under a divisive sectarian identity."^[1] In 1970, a court decision stated that Jinnah's "secular Muslim faith made him neither Shia nor Sunni",^[1] and in 1984 the court maintained that "the Quaid was definitely not a Shia".^[1] Liaquat H. Merchant elaborates that "he was also not a Sunni, he was simply a Muslim".^[1]

Legacy[link]

An Iranian stamp commemorating the centenary of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, printed in 1976.

In his biography of Jinnah titled "Jinnah of Pakistan", the historian, Stanley Wolpert, makes the following observation that succinctly describes the legacy of Jinnah and his footprint on history:

Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three.^{[93][page needed]}

Pakistanis view Jinnah as their revered founding father, a man that was dedicated to safeguarding Muslim interests during the dying days of the British Raj.^[94] Jinnah is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam (Urdu: قائد اعظم — "Great Leader") and Baba-i-Qaum (بابائے قوم) ("Father of the Nation"). His birthday is a national holiday in Pakistan. Despite any of a range of biases, Jinnah is universally recognized as central to the creation of Pakistan.^[95]

According to Akbar S. Ahmed, nearly every book about Jinnah outside Pakistan mentions that he drank alcohol, but this is omitted from books inside Pakistan. Ahmed says that portraying the Quaid drinking alcohol would weaken Jinnah's Islamic identity, and by extension, Pakistan's. Several sources indicate he gave up alcohol near the end of his life.^[96]

Jinnah is depicted on all Pakistani rupee notes of denominations five and higher, and is the namesake of many Pakistani public institutions. The former Quaid-i-Azam International Airport in Karachi, now called the Jinnah International Airport, is Pakistan's busiest. One of the largest streets in the Turkish capital Ankara — Cinnah Caddesi — is named after him. In the Iranian capital, Tehran, one of its most important new highways^[which?] is named after him, as is the city's Mohammad Ali Jenah Expressway. The government of Iran also released a stamp commemorating the centennial of Jinnah's birthday. In Chicago, a portion of Devon Avenue was named as "Mohammed Ali Jinnah Way". The Mazar-e-Quaid, Jinnah's mausoleum, is among Karachi's most imposing buildings.^[97] There is a "Jinnah Tower" in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India, which was built to commemorate Jinnah.^[98]

Jinnah was portrayed by British actors Richard Lintern (as the young Jinnah) and Christopher Lee (as the elder Jinnah) in the 1998 film Jinnah.^[99] In Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, Jinnah was portrayed by Alyque Padamsee. In the 1986 televised mini-series Lord Mountbatten: the Last Viceroy, Jinnah was played by Polish actor Vladek Sheybal.

Some historians like H M Seervai and Ayesha Jalal assert that Jinnah never wanted partition of India—it was the outcome of the Congress leaders being unwilling to share power with the Muslim League. It is asserted that Jinnah only used the Pakistan demand as a method to mobilize support to obtain significant political rights for Muslims.^[100] Jinnah has gained the admiration of major Indian nationalist politicians like Lal Krishna Advani—whose comments praising Jinnah caused an uproar in his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).^[101] Jaswant Singh likewise praised Jinnah for standing up to the Indian National Congress and the British.^[102][103] In August 2009, Singh was expelled from the BJP for writing a controversial book praising Jinnah,^[104] and shortly after, the state of Gujarat banned Singh's book because of its negative statements about Vallabhbhai Patel, the first home minister of India.^[105] However, Jaswant Singh's book does portray the success of Jinnah's ideology of Indian Muslims forming a separate nation not evident from the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. According to a BBC poll in 2004, Jinnah is considered as South Asia's greatest-ever leader with the highest score of 39%, higher than Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose.^[106]

Criticism[link]

Some critics allege that Jinnah's courting the rulers of Hindu-majority states and his gambit with Junagadh is proof of ill intentions towards India, as he was the proponent of the theory that Hindus and Muslims could not live together, yet being interested in Hindu-majority states.^[107] In his book Patel: A Life, Rajmohan Gandhi asserts that Jinnah sought to engage the question of Junagadh with an eye on Kashmir—he wanted India to ask for a plebiscite in Junagadh, knowing thus that the principle then would have to be applied to Kashmir, where the Muslim-majority would, he believed, vote for Pakistan.^[108]

Abul Ala Maududi and the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership openly criticized Muhammed Ali Jinnah, arguing that he did not have an Islamic outlook. According to Maududi, Jinnah believed that Pakistan should be a democratic state with sovereignty vested in the people, a notion Maududi opposed as "western" and contrary to the sovereignty of Allah.^[109] Jamaat-i-Islami is, however, engaged in the political process and has been taking part in elections in Pakistan after the death of Maududi.

Apart from cultural legacies, it seems that Mohammad Ali Jinnah left a legacy as one of the most controversially portrayed figures in contemporary Asian history. From an Indian perspective, Jinnah tends to be depicted as a cunning and relentless force that compromised the unity of India to create Pakistan, for a range of religious, cultural, political, and personal motives; on the other hand Jaswant Singh, a member of Indian Parliament and former cabinet minister, viewed Nehru, not Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as causing the division of India into two separate states for Muslims and Hindus, mostly referring to his highly centralized policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more decentralized India. Singh suggests that the split between the two was among the causes of two separate nations.^[102][103]

Gallery[link]

• Jinnah Gallery
• 

  Cabinet Mission to India 1946

• 

  Viceroy Wavell meets Indian leaders at Simla Conference

• 

  Jinnah and his daughter, Dina

• 

  Jinnah and his fellow Muslim League Founders

• 

  Simla Conference (1946) L to R: Rajendra Prasad, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, C. Rajagopalachari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ahmed, Akbar S. Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin (1997). ISBN 0-415-14966-5
• Ajeet, Javed Secular and Nationalist Jinnah JNU Press Delhi
• Asiananda, Jinnah: A Corrective Reading of Indian History, ISBN 81-8305-002-6
• Gandhi, Rajmohan, Patel: A Life (1990), Ahmedabad, Navajivan, ASIN: B0006EYQ0A
• French, Patrick. Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division. Harper Collins, (1997). ISBN 0-00-255771-1
• Hardiman, David Peasant Nationalists of Gujarat, ISBN 0-19-561255-8
• Jalal, Ayesha (1994). The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge: CUP. ISBN 0-521-45850-1
• Jinnah, Fatima (1987). Quaid-i-Azam Academy My Brother. ISBN 969-413-036-0
• Mansergh, Nicholas. Transfer of Power Papers (Volume IX)
• Wolpert, Stanley (2002). Jinnah of Pakistan. Oxford: OUP.

External links[link]

	Pakistan portal
	Karachi portal
	Government of Pakistan portal
	Biography portal
	Politics portal

Find more about Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• "Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah". Government of Pakistan Website. http://www.quaid.gov.pk. 
• "Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah". The Jinnah Society. http://www.majinnah.com.pk. 
• Fathers, Michael (23 August 1999). "The Father of Pakistan". The Most Influential Asians of the Century by TIME. http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990823/jinnah.html. Retrieved 2010-05-13. 
• "Jinnah's speech to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan". pakistani.org. 11 August 1947. http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/constituent_address_11aug1947.html. 
• "Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876–1948)". Harappa.com. http://harappa.com/sounds/jinnah.html. 
• "Pictures of Quaid (Album)". Urdu Point. http://www.urdupoint.com/jinnah/album/. 
• "I Remember Jinnah". Daily Dawn (newspaper). http://www.dawn.com/2008/12/25/nat16.htm. 
• "1947 – August". Chronicles Of Pakistan. http://therepublicofrumi.com/47.htm. 
• "Plain Mr Jinnah". A large photo collection on Flickr by Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimu/sets/72157600711943677/. 

v t e Pakistan Movement History East India Company Indian Rebellion of 1857 Aligarh Movement Urdu movement Partition of Bengal Lucknow Pact Khilafat Movement Nehru Report Fourteen Points of Jinnah Allahabad Address Now or Never pamphlet Two-Nation Theory Round Table Conferences Lahore Resolution Direct Action Day Indian Muslim nationalism Cabinet Mission Indian Independence Act Partition of India Radcliffe Line Pakistan Objectives Resolution Independence Republic Day Kashmir Freedom Movement Pakistani nationalism Osmanistan Noakhali genocide Organisations Muslim League Unionist Muslim League All India Muslim Students Federation Khaksars Leaders Syed Ahmed Khan Muhammad Iqbal Aga Khan III Muhammad Ali Jinnah Ghulam Bhik Nairang Liaquat Ali Khan Bahadur Yar Jung G. M. Syed Abdur Rab Nishtar Fatima Jinnah Choudhary Rahmat Ali Muhammad Ali Jouhar Shaukat Ali A.K. Fazlul Huq Sikandar Hayat Khan Zafar Ali Khan Khawaja Nazimuddin Abdul Qayyum Khan Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan Jogendra Nath Mandal more Activists Z.A. Suleri Hameed Nizami M.A. Zuberi Altaf Husain Yusuf Khattak Shaukat Hayat Khan Muhammad Asad Ziauddin Ahmed more

v t e Governors-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah · Khawaja Nazimuddin · Malik Ghulam Muhammad · Iskander Mirza

v t e Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Abdul Wahab Khan Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry Abdul Jabbar Khan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry Sahibzada Farooq Ali Malik Meraj Khalid Syed Fakhar Imam Hamid Nasir Chattha Gohar Ayub Khan Yousaf Raza Gillani Elahi Bux Soomro Chaudhry Amir Hussain Fahmida Mirza

Muhammad Ali
Ali in 1967
Statistics
Nickname(s)	The Greatest The People's Champion The Louisville Lip
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Reach	80 in (203 cm)
Nationality	American
Born	(1942-01-17) January 17, 1942 (age 70) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	61
Wins	56
Wins by KO	37
Losses	5
Draws	0
No contests	0
Medal record Men's boxing Competitor for the USA Summer Olympics Gold 1960 Rome Light heavyweight

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an American former professional boxer,^[1] philanthropist^[2] and social activist.^[2] Considered a cultural icon, Ali was both idolized and vilified.^[3][4]

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and more recently practicing Sufism.^{[clarification needed][5]} In 1967, three years after Ali had won the World Heavyweight Championship, he was publicly vilified for his refusal to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... No Viet Cong ever called me nigger" – one of the more telling remarks of the era.^[6]

Widespread protests against the Vietnam War had not yet begun, but with that one phrase, Ali articulated the reason to oppose the war for a generation of young Americans, and his words served as a touchstone for the racial and antiwar upheavals that would rock the 1960s. Ali's example inspired Martin Luther King Jr. – who had been reluctant to alienate the Johnson Administration and its support of the civil rights agenda – to voice his own opposition to the war for the first time.^[7]

Ali was eventually arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges; he was stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was eventually successful.

Ali would go on to become the first and only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion.

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches.^[8] Notable among these were three with rival Joe Frazier, which are considered among the greatest in boxing history, and one with George Foreman, where he finally regained his stripped titles seven years later. Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float[ing] like a butterfly, sting[ing] like a bee", and employing techniques such as the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope.^[9] Ali had brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports and through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he had become the most famous athlete in the world.^[10] He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes.

In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.^[11][12]

Biography[link]

Amateur career and Olympic gold[link]

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky.^[13] The younger of two boys, he was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., who was named after the 19th century abolitionist and politician of the same name. His father painted billboards and signs,^[13] and his mother, Odessa O'Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his elder brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists.^[14] He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with some Irish ancestry.^[15]

Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin,^[16] who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he better learn how to box first.^[17] For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by legendary boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.^[18]

Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[19][20] Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

Ali states in his 1975 autobiography that he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang.^[21] Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.

Early professional career[link]

After his Olympic triumph, Clay returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Standing at 6'3" (1.91 m), Clay had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches, and carried his hands low.

From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19–0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs.^[13] Clay admitted he adopted the latter practice from "Gorgeous" George Wagner, a popular professional wrestling champion in the Los Angeles area who drew thousands of fans.^[13] Often referred to as "the man you loved to hate," George could incite the crowd with a few heated remarks, and Clay followed suit.

Among Clay's victims were Sonny Banks (who knocked him down during the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and the aged Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had fought over 200 previous fights, and who had been Clay's trainer prior to Angelo Dundee). Clay had considered continuing using Moore as a trainer following the bout, but Moore had insisted that the cocky "Louisville Lip" perform training camp chores such as sweeping and dishwashing. He considered having his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson, as a manager, but instead hired Dundee.

Clay first met Dundee on February 19, 1957 when the latter was in Louisville the day before a fight with light heavyweight champ Willie Pastrano.^[22] The teenaged Golden Gloves winner traveled downtown to the fighter's hotel, called Dundee from the house phone, and was asked up to their room. He took advantage of the opportunity to query Dundee (who had worked with champions Sugar Ramos and Carmen Basilio) about what his fighters ate, how long they slept, how much roadwork (jogging) they did, and how long they sparred.

Following his bout with Moore, Clay won a disputed 10-round decision over Doug Jones in a matchup that was named "Fight of the Year" for 1963. Clay's next fight was against Henry Cooper, who knocked Clay down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. The fight was stopped in the fifth due to deep cuts over Cooper's eyes.

Despite these close calls, Clay became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. However, although he had an impressive record, he was not widely expected to defeat the champ. The fight was scheduled for February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida, but was nearly canceled when the promoter, Bill Faversham, heard that Clay had been seen around Miami and in other cities with the controversial Malcolm X, a member of Nation of Islam. Because of this, news of this association was perceived as a potential gate-killer to a bout which, given Liston's overwhelming status as the favorite to win (7–1 odds),^[23] had Clay's colorful persona and nonstop braggadocio as its sole appeal.

Faversham confronted Clay about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Clay protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book The Greatest: My Own Story by Ali (with Richard Durham).

During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Clay, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."

First title fight and aftermath[link]

At the pre-fight weigh-in, Clay's pulse rate was around 120, more than double his norm of 54.^[24] Liston, among others, misread this as nervousness. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height advantage to beat Liston to the punch with his own lightning-quick jab.^[24]