The history of the Jinnah family is somewhat debated among different sources.[5] Originally from aKhoja background, the family relocated toKarachi fromKathiawar,Bombay Presidency in 1875.[6] Jinnah's paternal grandfather hailed fromPaneli Moti village in theGondal state (now part ofGujarat, India).[7] Jinnah was the eldest of seven children born toJinnahbhai Poonja, a merchant, and his wife, Mithibai. The family was part of the Khoja caste, a group of Hindus who had converted to Islam centuries earlier and were followers of theAga Khan.[8] Although raised in a Khoja Muslim family, Jinnah later identified as a Sunni Muslim, a shift confirmed by testimonies from relatives and associates later in his life.[2]
Members of the Jinnah family
Jinnah's family was from Khoja caste, who had converted to Islam from Hinduism and were followers of the Aga Khan.[8]
First Generation
Poonja Meghji. He was a Hindu converted to Islam. He also observed most Hindu religious rituals:[9]
Jinnahbhai Poonja was a prosperous merchant.[8] He moved to Karachi before Muhammad Ali Jinnah's birth. He and his wife had 8 children,[12] to whom they stopped giving Hindu names, stopped observance of Hinduchatti ritual, and began giving Quran lessons to their children:[13][9]
The founder ofPakistan and was the country's first Governor-General. His first marriage in 1892 was the result of his mother urging him to marry his cousinEmibai Jinnah before he left for England to pursue higher studies. However, Emibai died a few months later. His second marriage took place in 1918 toRattanbai Petit (granddaughter ofDinshaw Maneckji Petit andRatanji Dadabhoy Tata), a Parsi who was 24 years his junior. Rattanbaiconverted to Islam when she married Jinnah.[16] In 1919, she gave birth to their only daughter,Dina Jinnah.[17][18]
Dawn (newspaper) Fact File: "In his youth, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was married to a distant cousin named Emibai from Paneli village in Gujarat at his mother's urging. At the time of their marriage, Jinnah was only 16 and Emibai was 14. The marriage was arranged by his mother because she feared that when Jinnah went to England, he might end up marrying an English girl. The couple hardly lived together as Jinnah sailed from India soon after his marriage and Emibai died a few weeks later."[13]
Ahmed Ali Jinnah was a businessman and, though not involved in politics or public life, he is known for his place within the prominent Jinnah family. He married a Swiss woman named Emmy, with whom he had a daughter, and later settled abroad, living inSwitzerland and eventually theUnited States. He remained largely out of the public eye, and little is documented about his personal or professional life.
Fatima Jinnah was a dental surgeon, biographer, stateswoman, and one of the leading Founding mothers of modern-state of Pakistan. She also played a pivotal role in civil rights and introduced the women's rights movement in thePakistan Movement. After her brother's death she continued to play a pivotal role in Pakistani politics and in 1965 returned to active politics by running againstAyub Khan in the1965 elections.
Dina was born toMuhammad Ali Jinnah andRattainbai Jinnah (néePetit) inLondon shortly after midnight on the morning of 15 August 1919. AsStanley Wolpert'sJinnah of Pakistan records: "Oddly enough, precisely twenty-eight years to the day and hour before the birth of Jinnah's other offspring, Pakistan."[4]
She had a rift with her father when she expressed her desire to marry aParsi from her mother's family,Neville Wadia. According to M C Chagla in "Roses in December", Jinnah, aMuslim, disowned his daughter after trying to dissuade her from marrying Neville. Dina Wadia was the only direct living link to Jinnah and the nation of Pakistan claiming her father as its ownfather of the nation is assumed to have some kind of kinship with her according to Akbar S. Ahmed.[19] His descendants through her are part of theWadia family and reside in India as she married and stayed in India after thecreation ofPakistan in 1947. Dina Wadia lived alone with staff in theNew York City, United States.[20] Wadia died of pneumonia at her home in New York on 1 November 2017 at the age of 98.[21][22][23][unreliable source?]
^Muhammad Ali Jinnah moved towards theSunni denomination early in life. With evidence from his relatives, associates and other witnesses, it was established that he had fully reverted to the Sunni denomination later in life.[2]
^abAhmed 2005, p. 4: Although born into a Khoja (from khwaja or 'noble') family who were disciples of the Ismaili Aga Khan, Jinnah moved towards the Sunni sect early in life. There is evidence later, given by his relatives and associates in court, to establish that he was firmly a Sunni Muslim by the end of his life.
^Ahmed 2005, p. 3–4: Jinnah's family traced its descent from Iran and reflected Shia, Sunni and Ismaili influences; some of the family names -- Valji, Manbai and Nathoo -- were even 'akin to Hindu names'...Another source has a different explanation of Jinnah's origins. Mr Jinnah, according to a Pakistani author, said that his male ancestor was a Rajput from Sahiwal in the Punjab who had married into the Ismaili Khojas and settled in Kathiawar.
