Jinnah family

Jinnah family
Jinnahbhai Poonja Fatima Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Country	British India [1] Pakistan (from 1947)
Place of origin	Paneli, Kathiawar, Bombay Presidency, British India
Founder	Jinnahbhai Poonja
Final head	Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Members	Jinnahbhai Poonja Muhammad Ali Jinnah Emibai Jinnah Rattanbai Jinnah Ahmed Ali Jinnah Fatima Jinnah Dina Wadia
Connected families	Petit family Wadia family
Traditions	Nizari Isma'ili Islam Sunni Islam [a]
Heirlooms	Displayed at Quaid-e-Azam House
Estates	Wazir Mansion, Karachi South Court, Bombay Flagstaff House, Karachi Jinnah House, Lahore Governor-General's House, Karachi Ziarat Residency, Ziarat

Jinnah family of Muhammad Ali Jinnah had long been prominent in British Indian, and later Pakistani, politics. They played a pivotal role in the Pakistan Movement.

Jinnah, often referred to in Pakistan as the Quaid-e-Azam , served as the country’s first Governor-General after the partition of India. His younger sister, Fatima Jinnah, was also a key figure in the Pakistan movement. Many public institutions, including universities and hospitals, have been named in honor of Jinnah and Fatima, and their birth and death anniversaries are recognized as public holidays in Pakistan. ^{[3] [4]}

The history of the Jinnah family is somewhat debated among different sources. ^[5] Originally from a Khoja background, the family relocated to Karachi from Kathiawar, Bombay Presidency in 1875. ^[6] Jinnah's paternal grandfather hailed from Paneli Moti village in the Gondal state (now part of Gujarat, India). ^[7] Jinnah was the eldest of seven children born to Jinnahbhai 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 the Aga 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]
  • Manbai
  • Valji
  • Nathoobhai
  • Jinnahbhai

Second generation

• Jinnahbhai Poonja. ^[8] (also referred to as Jina Poonja), ^{[10] [ unreliable source? ]} a Khoja (1857–1902), was married to Mithhibai. ^{[11] [ unreliable source? ] [8]}
  • m. Mithhibai
  • 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 Hindu chatti ritual, and began giving Quran lessons to their children: ^{[13] [9]}

1. Muhammad Ali Jinnah
2. Ahmed Ali Jinnah
3. Bunde Ali Jinnah
4. Rahmat Bai Jinnah
5. Shireen Bai Jinnah
6. Maryam Bai Jinnah
7. Fatima Jinnah
8. Bachu ^{[14] [15]}

Third generation

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948)
  • The founder of Pakistan and was the country's first Governor-General. His first marriage in 1892 was the result of his mother urging him to marry his cousin Emibai Jinnah before he left for England to pursue higher studies. However, Emibai died a few months later. His second marriage took place in 1918 to Rattanbai Petit (granddaughter of Dinshaw Maneckji Petit and Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata), a Parsi who was 24 years his junior. Rattanbai converted to Islam when she married Jinnah. ^[16] In 1919, she gave birth to their only daughter, Dina Jinnah. ^{[17] [18]}
  • m. Emibai Jinnah
    • 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]
  • m. Rattanbai Jinnah (1900-1929)
• Ahmed Ali Jinnah
  • 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 in Switzerland and eventually the United States. He remained largely out of the public eye, and little is documented about his personal or professional life.
• Bunde Ali Jinnah
• Rahmat Bai Jinnah
• Shireen Jinnah
• Fatima Jinnah (1893–1967)
  • 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 the Pakistan 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 against Ayub Khan in the 1965 elections.
• Maryam Bai Jinnah
• Bachu ^[14]
  • Died in infancy ^[15]

Fourth generation

• Dina Wadia (1919–2017)
  • Dina was born to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Rattainbai Jinnah (née Petit) in London shortly after midnight on the morning of 15 August 1919. As Stanley Wolpert's Jinnah 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 a Parsi from her mother's family, Neville Wadia. According to M C Chagla in "Roses in December", Jinnah, a Muslim, 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 own father 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 the Wadia family and reside in India as she married and stayed in India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Dina Wadia lived alone with staff in the New 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? ]}

Estates

Quaid-e-Azam House

Private estates

• Wazir Mansion, Jinnah's birthplace in Karachi
• South Court, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's former residence in Mumbai, India, currently owned by the government of India.
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah House, Jinnah's former House at 10 Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, currently the Dutch Embassy in India.
• Quaid-e-Azam House, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's House in Karachi
• Jinnah House, a property owned by Jinnah in Lahore, currently the Corps Commander House

Official residences

• Governor-General's House, Jinnah's official residence in Karachi
• Quaid-e-Azam Residency, Jinnah's residence in Balochistan where he spent the last days of his life

Family photos

• 
  Jinnahbhai Poonja
• 
  Muhammad Ali Jinnah
• 
  Fatima Jinnah
• 
  Rattanbai Jinnah

Family tree

v t e Jinnah family tree
Mitthibai Jinnahbhai (1857–1902) Jinnahbhai Poonja Emibai Jinnah (1878–1893) Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) Rattanbai Jinnah (1900-1929) Ahmed Ali Jinnah Bunde Ali Jinnah Rahmat Ali Jinnah Fatima Jinnah (1893-1967) Shireen Jinnah Maryam Jinnah Dina Wadia (1919-2017) Neville Wadia (1911-1996) Nusli Wadia Maureen Wadia Ness Wadia (b. 1970) Jehangir Wadia Celina Wadia Jahangir Wadia Ella Wadia
Notes:

See also

• Wadia family
• Petit family

Notes

1. Muhammad Ali Jinnah moved towards the Sunni 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]

References

1. "Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity".
2. Ahmed 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.
3. The story of Pakistan
4. Guriro, Amar (30 June 2009). "Aslam Jinnah's claim of being Quaid's family disputed". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
5. 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.
6. Gujrats gifts to India and Pakistan
7. Pirbhai, M. Reza (2017). Fatima Jinnah. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-107-19276-8.
8. "Mohammed Ali Jinnah". britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
9. Panigrahi, D. N. (2004). India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat. Routledge. p. 16.
10. The truth about Aslam Jinnah, Dawn, Liaquat Merchant, (the grandson of Maryam Bai, one of Quaid-e-Azam's sisters), JUL 10, 2009
11. "Closed fist worth millions". Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
12. Ahmed 2005, p. 3.
13. Fact file: Jinnah's family
14. Dani 1979.
15. Beg 1986.
16. Newspaper, the (21 December 2012). "Maryam Jinnah". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
17. Khalid, Amna (30 December 2011). "Ruttie's love letter to Jinnah". Daily Express . The Express Tribune . Retrieved 11 September 2012.
18. Official website, Government of Pakistan. "Early Days: Birth and Schooling". Archived from the original on 5 November 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2006.
19. Ahmed 2005, p. 21.
20. Business baron Nusli Wadia attends to his ailing mother
21. Dawn.com (2 November 2017). "Jinnah's only daughter, Dina Wadia, passes away at 98". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
22. "Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia dies in New York". The Hindu. PTI. 2 November 2017. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2 November 2017.
23. Web Desk. "Quaid-e-Azam'S daughter Dina Wadia dies in New York - SUCH TV". SUCH TV. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

Sources

• Ahmed, Akbar (2005). Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin. Routledge. ISBN   9781134750221.
• Beg, Aziz (1986). Jinnah and His Times: A Biography. Babur & Amer Publications. p. 92. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
• Dani, Ahmad Hasan, ed. (1979). World Scholars on Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Volume 1. Quaid-i-Azam University. p. 52. Retrieved 8 June 2025.