December 25th is Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s 148th birth anniversary. To mark this anniversary, here are 15 lesser-known facts about the Quaid.

1. Birth and Childhood Nickname

Mr Jinnah was born in Wazir Mansion on Newham Road on December 25, 1876. However, according to several accounts, his date of birth is October 20, 1875 and he was born in a building adjacent to Wazir Mansion. Whatever the case, Wazir Mansion now houses a museum dedicated to the Quaid and his birthday is celebrated throughout the country on December 25. His uncle, Qasim Musa (his mother Mithibai’s brother), suggested the name Mahomedalli Jinnahbhai. He later changed it to simply MA Jinnah. His childhood nickname was Mamad.

2. Early Sickness and Recovery

Mamad was initially a sickly child, which is why his parents took him to Hasan Pir’s dargah in Ganod, located 10 miles from Paneli, Kathiawar (his father Jinnahbhai Poonja’s hometown). They had to brave quite a treacherous storm on their way there. Mithibai Jinnah is believed to have been a devotee of the pir and the family stayed there for 40 days praying for Mamad’s health, which eventually improved.

3. Birthmark and Prophecy of Greatness

Mr Jinnah was born with a mole on the sole of his right foot. His mother opined that this indicated he was destined to be a ‘rajah.’ In fact, according to folklore, an astrologer, upon seeing young Mamad, prophesied he would grow up to be a king. Shirin Jinnah, one of Mr Jinnah’s sisters, recalled in an article in Dawn: “My sisters and I, curious about his birthmark, requested him to let us look at his right foot. ‘Don’t be superstitious,’ was his brusque response. However, after our cajoling, he yielded and took off his shoes and socks. And there it was, right in the middle of his sole – round and the size of a rupee coin.” Well, maybe he did not turn out to be a rajah or king, but he did, as Stanley Wolpert put it, manage to change the map of the world by creating Pakistan.

4. Cricket Over Mathematics and Marbles

As a child, Mr Jinnah did not particularly enjoy schoolwork, especially mathematics, which he loathed. Instead, he preferred playing cricket, horse-riding or even reading poetry. He exhorted his friends to stop playing marbles, “Don’t play marbles in the dust; it spoils your clothes and dirties your hands. We must stand up and play cricket.” At a later stage in life, when he came into conflict with the Congress Party, he declared, “Congress plays marbles. I want them to play cricket.” Cricket continued to be of interest to him throughout his life, and even if he couldn’t watch a match, he would ask, “What’s the score?”

5. London and Law

After finishing his schooling,16-year-old Jinnah left for London to pursue an apprenticeship arranged by his father’s friend, an Englishman called Frederick Leigh Croft. Croft was described as “something of a dandy, with a freshly picked carnation in his buttonhole each morning.” Once in England, perhaps impressed by the liberalism of William Gladstone and Dadabhai Naoroji, the ‘Grand Old Man of India,’ who had recently become the first Indian to be elected to the British Parliament as the member for Central Finsbury, Mr Jinnah decided to pursue law and joined Lincoln’s Inn even though his father did not like this change in plan.

6. Resolve Against Injustice

Mr Jinnah later told his sister, Ms Fatima Jinnah, “When I learnt that Lord Salisbury in one of his speeches had ridiculed Dadabhai as a ‘black man,’ thereby warning the Finsbury constituency not to elect him, I was furious. If Dadabhai was black, I was blacker; and if this was the mentality of our political masters, then we could never get a fair deal at their hands. From that day I have been an uncompromising enemy of all forms of colour bar.” This distaste for racism remained with Mr Jinnah all his life, and he advocated the rights of minorities throughout his political career.

7. Early Marriage and Loss

Prior to leaving London, Mr Jinnah’s mother insisted that he marry a ‘nice’ girl so that a white woman wouldn’t nab her handsome son. He was therefore married to Emibai and the wedding took place in Paneli Moti, Jinnah’s ancestral village in modern-day Gujarat. Unfortunately, his young wife, as well as his mother, passed away while he was in London.

8. Jinnah’s Brief Brush with Acting

During his days in London, Mr Jinnah seriously considered becoming an actor. He wanted to play the role of Romeo from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at London’s Old Vic. However, after a strong admonishment from his father, who told him not to be a “traitor” to the family, he decided not to. He was also reprimanded by the police when he, and a few of his friends, decided to push a cart on the streets of Oxford, where he frequently spent his weekends.

9. Legacy in Journalism

In London, Mr Jinnah developed the habit of reading a newspaper with his breakfast. This habit continued throughout his life and perhaps this, coupled with his advocacy for freedom of speech, resulted in him forming Dawn Delhi in 1941 and eventually Dawn in Karachi on August 14, 1947. Mr Jinnah first thought he would call the newspaper ‘Torchlight’, but at the suggestion of Desmond Young, editor of the Lucknow Pioneer, he called it Dawn. Prior to Partition, holding a copy of Dawn was viewed as being synonymous with being a supporter of the Muslim League. In addition to Dawn, Mr Jinnah established the Urdu newspaper Manshoor and served on the board of directors of the Bombay Chronicle.

10. Evolving Style and Elegance

When he arrived in London, Mr Jinnah was prone to wearing a long yellow coat. However, his sartorial sensibilities changed with time and he was then seen wearing well-tailored Savile Row suits complemented with a monocle, a practice he continued for the rest of his life. He was said to change his clothes several times during the day to ensure that he never looked untidy, especially during the hot Bombay summers. His aesthetic sense extended further than his clothes. He was fond of carpets and cars and his homes were furnished with Iranian carpets and tasteful furniture.

11. The Fearless Advocate

Mr Jinnah enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in 1896. It was the time of the bubonic plague and this is when he developed the habit of washing his hands frequently during the day. He soon became a prominent lawyer, and according to Stanley Wolpert, “he earned a reputation for his lack of respect for the British Empire.” In one incident, a judge kept interrupting Jinnah by saying, “Rubbish!” Jinnah eventually responded by saying, “Your honour, nothing but rubbish has passed your mouth all morning.” In another incident, when a judge said, “Mr Jinnah, remember that you are not addressing a third-class magistrate,” he answered, “My Lord, allow me to warn you that you are not addressing a third-class pleader.” His fees were high and when questioned about them, he replied, “You can’t travel in a Pullman on a third-class ticket.”

12. Support for Women’s Rights

Although known to be staunch and rigid, Mr Jinnah was what we would today term a ‘feminist.’ More than once he stated that women were as important to the Independence Movement as men and to the progress of Pakistan. During a speech, he stated, “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners… There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable conditions in which our women have to live.”

13. A Marriage of Defiance

Mr Jinnah married the spirited Rattanbai Jinnah, who came from a prominent Parsi family. It was a marriage that shook Bombay for various reasons, one of which was the fact that Mr Petit, Ruttie’s father, filed a case of abduction against Mr Jinnah, which came to naught as Ruttie declared, “I love Jinnah. I have embraced Islam out of my own free will. As for [my father’s] wealth, neither I nor my husband want any of it.” Soon after the couple’s honeymoon, they were invited to dinner at Government House in Bombay. Ruttie wore a low-cut evening gown and Lady Willingdon (Governor Willingdon’s wife) immediately asked the domestic staff for a “wrap to cover up Mrs Jinnah… in case she felt cold.” Mr Jinnah’s response? “When Mrs Jinnah feels cold, she will say so and ask for a wrap herself.”

14. Fatima Jinnah’s Biggest Supporter

Despite family opposition, Mr Jinnah enrolled his sister Fatima Jinnah – one of his six siblings and to whom he was closest – to a convent school in Bandra and encouraged her ambition to become a dentist, which she did. She opened her own dental clinic in Bombay, making her the first Muslim woman, at least in South Asia, to do so.

15. Jinnah’s Bond with His Daughter

Dina Wadia, née Jinnah was the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Jinnah. After Ruttie’s untimely death, and Mr Jinnah’s growing dissatisfaction with the political situation in pre-Partition India, he moved to London with Dina and Fatima Jinnah. Mr Jinnah used to read Grey Wolf: The Life of Kemal Ataturk by H.C. Armstrong to Dina and she began to call him Grey Wolf. “Come on, Grey Wolf,” she would say, “Take me to a pantomime.” Before leaving for Karachi as the Partition grew near, he hugged his grandson Nusli, who expressed a liking for his cap. Mr Jinnah then placed the cap on Nusli’s head, saying, “Keep it, my boy.”

Sources used for this article include Jinnah, Creator of Pakistan by Hector Bolitho (1954), Jinnah of Pakistan by Stanley Wolpert (1984), Jinnah and His Times by Aziz Beg (1986), My Brother by Fatima Jinnah (1987) and Jinnah: A Life by Yasser Latif Hamdani (2020).

Photos: The National Archives of Pakistan and White Star.