The 4th edition of The Jinnah Anthology is a treasure trove of documents and first-hand accounts on the country’s founder. Exclusive review for the TFT Features Desk
When someone described it as a beautiful coffee table book, Professor Sikandar Hayat of FC College Lahore, who spoke at its recent launch in Karachi, said that the book constituted serious hard work and could not be treated as a coffee table book. A more apt description by Liaquat Merchant was: “To understand the reasons behind the creation of Pakistan and why the idea of Pakistan would never die – you have to cross the bridge which is ‘JINNAH’”.
This is absolutely true and, for this reason, The Jinnah Anthology “can be regarded as an excellent reference book on Jinnah. It is invaluable to Pakistanis living here and in the diaspora as it provides a strong link with their home country. The other major beneficiaries of The Jinnah Anthology are, and will continue to be, the youth of Pakistan. This book provides them with beautiful, inspirational information and documents which will continue to make them proud of their country and its Founder.”
Title: The Jinnah Anthology Edited and compiled by: Liaquat Merchant and Sharif Al Mujahid Published by: Lightstone Publishers Ltd. Price: PKR 2,500
The Jinnah Anthology has reached this final stage over the twenty-year period starting in 1999 when the 1st edition was published, followed by the 2nd in 2009, the 3rd in 2014, and the 4th in 2019. The book underwent revisions and improvements through this process, resulting in a beautiful presentation for which the untiring efforts of Liaquat Merchant, Jinnah’s grand nephew and Founder President of The Jinnah Society, and the remarkable Professor Sharif Al Mujahid deserve the highest praise. As a result of their commendable work, The Jinnah Anthology 4th Edition will continue to serve the needs of historians, scholars, authors, students, and Jinnah’s admirers for a long time to come.
The Jinnah Anthology is not a book to pick up and read from cover to cover. It is a vital reference work providing information on many aspects of Jinnah and his life from a variety of perspectives in the form of essays, articles, tributes, and memories of Jinnah by a range of well-known authorities and people who knew him.
The book is divided into 14 sections. Included are essays on Jinnah by Stanley Wolpert, S.M. Burke, Kuldip Nayar, Ayesha Jalal, Sharifuddin Pirzada, A.G. Noorani, Akbar S. Ahmed, Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Javaid Iqbal, Shaharyar Khan, Sharif Al Mujahid and Liaquat Merchant.
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in London, 1946
The essay entitled Two perspectives of Jinnah: Secular or IslamicandProtector General of Minorities is worth reading as is the essay by Muhammad Ali Siddiqui entitled The Two Saviors Ata Turk and Jinnah. T
Noteworthy also is Jinnah as seen by Sir Sultan Mohammad Shah, Aga Khan III by Liaquat Merchant in which the following tribute to Jinnah by the Aga Khan lll is included:
“The Quaid-i-Azam’s brilliant and epoch-making career, so untimely ended, reached its summit in these momentous years of 1946 and 1947. Now he belongs to history; and his memory, I am certain, is imperishable. Of all the statesmen that I have known in my life – Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Churchill, Curzon, Mussolini, Mahatma Gandhi – Jinnah is the most remarkable. None of these men in my view outshone him in strength of character, and in that almost uncanny combination of prescience and resolution which is statecraft.”
The book includes excerpts from the speeches and statements of Jinnah as well as personal recollections of him by people who knew him. The anthology includes Jinnah’s will and various judgments regarding his personal faith and beliefs by the High Court of Karachi, in addition to obituaries and editorials on his passing. We are also furnished with information on The Jinnah Society and its focus on propagating his ideas, principles and vision.
The anthology contains historical and rare photographs of Jinnah including one of his family in Karachi in 1997. Included also are an article by Ardeshir Cowasjee where he demands “bring back Jinnah’s Pakistan”. and a charming pen portrait of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah by Sarojini Naidu a former President of the Indian National Congress, reproduced below
“The casual pen might surely find it easier to describe his limitations rather than to define his virtues […] But the true criterion of Jinnah’s greatness lies not in the range and variety of his knowledge and experience, but in the faultless perception and flawless refinement of his subtle mind and spirit; not in the diversity of aims and challenge of a towering personality, but rather in a lofty singleness and sincerity of purpose and the lasting charm of a character animated by a brave conception of duty and an austere and lovely code of private honour and public integrity.”
The famous tribute to Jinnah by Professor Stanley Wolpert – a patron of The Jinnah Society who passed away recently – is included:
“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. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”
