Page 21 - Pakistan Link - December 31, 2021

COMMENTARY DECEMBER 31, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21

Quaid-i-Azam with Miss Fatima Jinnah Ruttie Jinnah and her grave in Bombay Mr Jinnah with daughter Dina
n By Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh The Women in Mr Jinnah’s Life though not divorce.
Rattanbai’s letter to Jinnah,
No man succeeds without a written in October 1928, a few
good woman behind him,” litho described. “On one side was mother had desired for him. “Emibai would conceal her face with months before her death, is a piece
“said Harold MacMillan, a the parched earth, pleading for wa- This remarkable lady is buried her covering or orni, whenever she of romantic literature. “Darling,
former British Prime Minister. ter: to the west was sea, from which in Karachi but, unfortunately, no one came in presence of her father-in- thank you for all you have done,” she
Jinnah’s life was a practical mani- they made their living.” But Mithibai has ever located her grave so that we law. But Mohammad Ali had his own wrote. “Try and remember me, be-
festation of this quote — a modi- showed courage and perseverance in can at least pay homage to her for views on such matters,” highlights loved, as the flower you plucked and
fication that I would make is that the face of all hardship. giving birth to a great son to whom Fatima Jinnah. not the flower you treaded upon….
Jinnah drew strength from the In this testing environment, she we Pakistanis all are indebted. “His wife was like a daughter I have loved you, my darling, as it is
women who walked ‘beside’ him, gave birth to her first child, Moham- of his parents, a full member of the given to few men to be loved. I only
not ‘behind’ him. mad Ali, whom she loved immensely Paternal Aunt: Manbai family, and it was unnecessary for beseech you that the tragedy which
There were several women until her death. “My mother was The youngest and only sister of her to cover one’s face, just because commenced with love should also
in Mr Jinnah’s life, seven of whom intensely fond of Mohammad Ali,” Jinnabhai, Manbai loved Jinnah like one’s great-grandmother had been end with it. Darling, good night and
proved to be most significant to him. stated Fatima Jinnah, “and, in spite of her own son. She was married to a doing it... and from that day, Emibai goodbye.” She died in the following
Unfortunately, very little informa- the fact that six other children were successful businessman, Peerbhai, discarded the age-old custom, which February, on her 29th birthday.
tion is available about them — that born to her, she continued up to the and lived in Bombay. had been running in the family for How much Jinnah loved Rat-
too scattered in bits and pieces — end of her life to look upon Moham- “She was a great story-teller,” generations.” tanbai could be gauged from the fact,
beyond their names. For instance, mad Ali as her favorite child.” The Fatima Jinnah recalled of her aunt. There is not much information that after her death, when her body
we know next to nothing about the mother inculcated dreams of great- “She was the center of our eyes and available about Jinnah’s first wife, ex- was being lowered in the grave, “Jin-
most influential person in his life, ness in the mind of her young son, ears, and we listened to her, enrap- cept that she died shortly after he left nah was not able to control his emo-
his mother Mithibai. In fact, Hec- about whom she had a firm belief tured by the bewitching way in which for England. The news of her death tions. He broke down and wept like a
tor Bolitho, in his biography Jinnah: that he would attain greatness in his she would narrate her stories, night shocked Jinnah. He did not enter child,” writes Al-Mujahid, quoting an
Creator of Pakistan (1954), was com- life. “My Mohammad Ali is going to after night … tales of fairies, and into a relationship with a woman, ei- eyewitness. Another manifestation
pelled to describe her as “never more be a big man; he will be very clever; the flying carpet; of jinns and drag- ther in England or in India, for the of his love for her was that he did not
than a vague shadow in the story.” better than the other boys,” Fatima ons; and they seemed to our childish next 25 years, until he met Rattanbai. take another woman as his wife for
I have made an attempt to de- Jinnah quoted her mother. minds to be wonderful tales, stories the rest of his life.
velop a list of the women Mr Jinnah It was not mere hope without out of this world,” Fatima Jinnah re- Second wife: Rattanbai
was closest to. Their pen-pictures any practical measure. Mithibai im- called her childhood memories. Rattanbai ‘Ruttie’ Jinnah passed Sister: Fatima Jinnah
presented here have been culled plored young Jinnah to “be regular at Jinnah was so attached to Man- away in February 1929 | National Jinnah was more like a father
from various sources. school and to give serious attention bai that, in 1887, at the age of about Archives Islamabad | Photo courtesy figure than a brother to Fatima Jin-
to his studies, saying that way alone 11 years, he left his home and school the writer nah. Born in July 1893, Fatima Jin-
Mother: Mithibai he will rise in life and be a big man, in Karachi to live with her in Bom- Highly refined and intellectu- nah was about 17 years younger to
Mithibai belonged to a respect- standing head and shoulders above bay. Renowned historian and Indol- ally advanced, 18-year-old Rattanbai him. At the time of her birth, Jinnah
able Ismaili Khoja family that lived in the others,” Fatima Jinnah recalled. ogist Stanley Wolpert writes in his married Jinnah, 42, in April 1918, was pursuing his studies in London.
the village of Dhaffa in the Kathiawar It was very difficult for her to famed biography Jinnah of Pakistan: transcending the differences of age On his return, he helped the family
region of India’s west coast. In 1874, say goodbye to her favorite child “Jinnah followed his aunt Manbai, and religion. to shift to Bombay.
Mithibai was married to Jinnabhai, a when, at 16, he embarked on a voy- who must have symbolised for him “Miss Rattanbai, [the] only When their father died in 1901,
struggling businessman, in a nearby age to London. But she did so in the the beauty, glamour, and endless fas- daughter of Sir Dinshaw Petit, yes- while Fatima was just eight, Jinnah
town called Gondal, in a family- hope that it would help him succeed cination of that presidency capital.” terday underwent conversion to assumed her guardianship. He was
arranged marriage. She was loved in his life. Manbai got him admitted in Islam and is today to be married to very concerned about her education
by her husband, who showered “all “My son, I hate to be away from a local school and introduced him the Hon. M.A. Jinnah,” read the an- and got her enrolled in Bombay’s
his attention and care on his young you. But I am sure this visit to Eng- to life in Bombay. This left a lasting nouncement in Daily Statesman of prestigious Bandra Convent in 1902,
wife” — in the words of their young- land will help you to be a man. This impression on Jinnah, and he sub- Calcutta on April 19, 1918. The fol- and then to St Patrick’s School, from
est daughter, Fatima Jinnah, in her has been my dream all my life... Mo- sequently selected this city to live in lowing year, she gave birth to their where she did her senior Cambridge
1987 book My Brother. Mithibai en- hammad Ali, you are leaving now and practise law. This bond between only child, Dina. in 1913.
joyed considerable influence over her on a long journey. I have the feeling the paternal auntie and her nephew Jinnah loved Rattanbai, ‘Ruttie’, Fatima Jinnah moved out of the
husband, who’s occasional “obduracy I will not live to see you come back endured throughout their entire like no other woman in his life. She family home to Jinnah’s house and
melted in the warmth of his young from England. God will be your Pro- lives. had a highly developed taste in litera- lived with him for eight years, until
wife’s pleadings,” observed Fatima tector. He will make my wish come ture and the fine arts. She “opened up he married Rattanbai. At that point,
Jinnah. true. You will be a big man. And I First wife: Emibai a new world of taste for him,” opines Jinnah got her enrolled at Calcutta’s
This bond of love and influ- will be proud of you,” Fatima Jinnah Jinnah was about 15 when he author Sharif al-Mujahid in his essay, Dr Ahmed Dental College. On the
ence between the husband and wife quoted her mother saying to Jinnah married Emibai, in February of Jinnah: A Portrait, published in The completion of her studies, Jinnah
is evident from the fact that, within when bidding him goodbye. 1892. On the wedding day, Jinnah, Jinnah Anthology. helped his sister open a dental prac-
a year or so of their marriage, young As she had predicted, Mithibai covered “from head to foot in long Although, in the following tice in Mumbai.
Mithibai chose to accompany her died while Jinnah was studying in rows of flowers, strung in invisible years, some issues confronted the On Ruttie’s demise in 1929,
husband to Karachi in pursuit of bet- London. white threads” marched to Emibai’s couple’s married life, the flame of Fatima Jinnah closed her clinic and
ter prospects. The usual practice then At the news of his mother’s house, where 14-year-old “Emibai, love between them never went out. It shifted again to her brother’s house,
was that men went alone on such death, “He wept and sobbed for dressed in expensive new clothes, was their respective attitude towards to take care of him and his daughter,
ventures, and called their wives and hours for his departed mother, whom heavily bejewelled, her hands spot- life where they differed. While Jin- Dina. Fatima Jinnah took care of her
families to join them only after suc- he loved more than anything else in ted with henna, her face and clothes nah was purpose-oriented and want- brother for the next 19 years, until
cessfully establishing themselves in the world,” stated Fatima Jinnah. “Far heavily sprinkled with ittar” awaited ed to accord adequate attention and his death in 1948.
the new place. away from home, lonely, and having the baraat, wrote Fatima Jinnah. This time to his causes in life, Rattanbai In her political role too, Jin-
The beginning of life in Kara- missed being with his mother in her union lasted for about a year, till Jin- wanted to continue living a fairytale nah ensured that Fatima Jinnah at-
chi proved to be challenging. The last days, the shock laid him low, nah left for England. romance. tended meetings and sessions beside
couple rented a modest two-room overcome by a violent fit of fainting,” Being a village girl, Emibai was “For Jinnah, married life was him, not behind him. He desired to
apartment, in which the “dust from she wrote. shy and observed purdah even from a solemn duty: for his young wife, present her as a model for Muslim
the desert came down on them in But Jinnah transformed his close male relatives. “According to it was also an opportunity for plea- women of the subcontinent. “Jinnah’s
hot clouds: it invaded their food, grief into strength in the endeavour the custom prevalent in our family,” sure,” Bolitho summed up their dif- belief that women should be
their clothes and their lungs,” Bo- to achieve the greatness that his dear explained Fatima Jinnah in her book, ferences. This resulted in alienation, WOMEN, P26
www.PakistanLink.com