Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Image: Muslim Mirror)

Today is Youm-e-Viladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam in Pakistan, usually referred to as “Quaid-e-Azam Day” or simply “Quaid’s Day“.

Celebrating the birthday of the founder of the modern Pakistani state, today is exactly 137 years since Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in Karachi, at that time in British India.

Referred to in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam, or “Great Leader”, Jinnah’s illustrious life took him to London to study and practice law before returning to British India to begin his political career.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the Lahore Resolution in 1940 (Image: MarketWatch.pk)

It was in India, in 1904, that he joined the Indian National Congress before falling out with the movement’s tilt towards non-violent resistance in 1921. In 1934 Jinnah returned to politics and took up his position as the leader of the All India Muslim League. As leader of this movement he advocated for a separate state for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, eventually set out as part of the Lahore resolution in 1940.

Once Pakistan came into being on 14th August 1947, Jinnah became Pakistan’s first head of state. However the state he inherited was described as “truncated” and “moth-eaten” by Jinnah himself, and Pakistan struggled to recover from the trauma of partition from India.

One of the final residencies of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Ziarat, near Quetta (Image: Wikipedia)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah fell sick in June of 1948 and passed away on 11th September 1948 as a result of tuberculosis complications. His death left Pakistan with no successor who could command a similar level of national unity, and some commentators have described the nation as “rudderless” ever since.

The date of 11th September is a day of commemoration in Pakistan, while 25th December, coinciding with Christmas Day, is a public holiday to celebrate Jinnah’s birthday.

UrbanDuniya wishes all of our readers a happy and thoughtful Quaid-e-Azam Day!