Fatima Jinnah was born on July 31, 1893 in Karachi. She was the youngest of seven siblings. At that time, your parents lived on the second floor of the Wazir Mansion apartment in Karachi, which was rented. Karachi those days was part of Bombay province. Jinnahbhai Poonja belonged to the Gujarati Khoja Ismaili Shi’a Muslim background, but later converted to the Sunni sect of Islam. Jinnah came from a middle-income family. Her father was a businessman who was born in a weaver’s family in the village of Paneli in the princely state Gondal (Kathiawar, Gujarat). Her mother Mithibai mother also belonged to the same village. She moved to Karachi in 1875 and had already tied the knot. Karachi’s economy was booming these days, and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant that Karachi was 200 nautical miles closer to Europe than Bombay.
Fatima Jinnah was the closest of Muhammad Ali Jinnah to her five other siblings Ahmed Ali Jinnah (brother), Bunde Ali Jinnah (brother), Rehmat Ali Jinnah (brother), Maryam Ali Jinnah (sister), Shireen Ali Jinnah (sister), and Muhammad Ali Jinnah became her guardian after her father’s death in 1901. The eldest brother also had a great love for the youngest sister, who had lost her mother’s affection in a very Sunni world, in which all the affection of parents and brother was gathered. Quaid-e-Azam returned home after graduating from England in 1896 and thought of educating Fatima. She took me to educational institutions with love and desire. In 1902, she received his early education from Bandra Convent School in Bombay. In 1919, she enrolled at the largest university in Calcutta, where he received his advanced degree in dentistry (Dental surgeon) from Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College. She becomes first female dentist of undivided India.
After completing his education, he opened his own dental clinic in Bombay in 1923. She lived with her brother Muhammad Ali Jinnah until Jinnah married Rattanbai Petit in 1918. After Rattanbai Petit’s death in February 1929, she closed her clinic and moved into the house of her brother Muhammad Ali Jinnah. She took over the responsibilities of his brother’s bungalow and from here Fatima Jinnah developed a lifelong companionship with her brother that lasted until her death.
Quaid-e-Azam once said of his sister that “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”.
In the last decade of Quaid-e-Azam’s life, the person who supported him moment by moment and encouraged him was Fatima Jinnah. You also attended the Round Table Conference in London in 1932 with your brother. She also took a keen interest in the establishment of the Muslim Women Students Federation in 1941, which later played a significant role in the Tehreek-e-Pakistan. The role of Fatima Jinnah in the tireless struggle of Tehreek-e-Pakistan is a golden chapter of our history. Ms. Fatima Jinnah was a great pioneer of the two-nation ideology and in the last years of independence, the Muslim League activated women on its basis. As a woman, the way Fatima Jinnah worked day and night in the political activities of Tehreek-e-Pakistan and supported her brother also makes women proud. Ms. Fatima Jinnah, who was later called the Mother of the Nation (Madr-e-Millat) by the nation, attended every public meeting with her brother and helped him, encouraged him and gave useful advice when needed Pakistan went on defeating its enemies in spite of all internal and external difficulties and opposition.
During the turbulent period of 1947, the Quaid-e-Azam set up the Women’s Relief Committee. The committee played a very important role in the resettlement of migrant women in Pakistan. The role of Ms. Fatima Jinnah was very extraordinary. She visited various cities across Pakistan and used his political insight and insight to mobilize the Muslim League and women politically, mobilizing Muslim women, who later went on to strengthen the Muslim League. She played a significant role in this. Later, this committee also became the impetus for the formation of All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA), which was established by Ms. Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan without mentioning the motherland; the history of Pakistan would be incomplete. The manner in which he showed courage, patience and fortitude on the occasion of his death also revealed his personality.
For many years after the death of her great brother, Ms. Fatima Jinnah stayed away from national politics, but she addressed the nation several times and gave messages to remind the nation of the goals of independence and to keep the mission in mind.
She returned to the political forefront to contest the 1964 elections at the age of 71 against former president General (retd) Ayub Khan but was, unfortunately, defeated.
Fatima died in Karachi at the age of 71 and the cause of her death was declared as heart failure. The Mother of the Nation was laid to rest next to her brother at the Mazar-e-Quaid.
The Madr-e-Millat still remains popular and is considered as one of the greatest female figures in Pakistan’s history.
