Remembering Mr Jinnah!

Articles , English , / Friday, March 22nd, 2024

Author:
Hafiza Maria Saeed

Words can do magic and the use of better words can shape an ordinary man into a leader.
We know about many such leaders whose speeches had a great influence on their followers. As a Muslim, the best of our leaders was Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In the West, we have seen some great leaders like Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Jeff Bezos and many others whose speeches made the people realize that without fail, the sun will rise again. On the national basis, the best leader that we ever had was Mr. Jinnah. Quad e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the only leader whose words did magic in the form of the creation of a separate homeland called Pakistan. On 23rd March, 1940, his words made history. His words made all of us realize that the only person who was able to be called a Leader was him. But before critically analyzing his message of 23rd March 1940, we first have to know what happened on 23rd March?
“On March 23, 1940, the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution, also known as the Pakistan Resolution, which demanded the creation of a separate independent Muslim state called Pakistan.”

Now, let’s discuss what Jinnah’s message was and how his words show him to be called a great Leader.

1- Firstly, the opening lines of the speech show gentleness as he said:
” Ladies and Gentlemen: We are meeting today in our session after fifteen months. The last session of the All-India Muslim League took place at Patna in December 1938. Since then, many developments have taken place”.
Look at the starting words, how respectfully he addressed the audience and he was not biased in this and not said words like ” My people ” or ” My public “. Also, he reminded the audience about the previous activities before starting his speech.

2- He also remembered the woman of the country and made them realize that the party, the nation and the country were nothing without their support. As he mentioned that:
” Next, you may remember that we appointed a committee of ladies at the Patna session. It is of very great importance to us, because I believe that it is absolutely essential for us to give every opportunity to our women to participate in our struggle of life and death”.

3- Mr. Jinnah was a very educated and organized person. He was like a ray of sunshine in the darkest moments of the nation. He gives important advice to the nation in the following lines:
” My point is that I want you to realise the value, the importance, the significance of organising ourselves. I will not say anything more on the subject.”

4- M. A. Jinnah was a very intelligent person. He told us to learn something from our past experiences in the following lines:
” We are now, therefore, very apprehensive and can trust nobody. I think it is a wise rule for everyone not to trust anybody too much. Sometimes we are led to trust people, but when we find in actual experience that our trust has been betrayed, surely that ought to be a sufficient lesson for any man not to continue his trust in those who have betrayed him.”
In the present situation of Pakistan, we need to follow this golden advice by Jinnah.

5- A leader can never let his audience feel stressed because of listening to the struggling situations of the party. He also makes some jokes just to grab the full focus of his listeners as Jinnah did in the following passage:
“And this is now what Mr. Gandhi said on the 20th of March, 1940. He says: “To me, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Harijans, are all alike. I cannot be frivolous” — but I think he is frivolous — “I cannot be frivolous when I talk of Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah. He is my brother.” The only difference is that brother Gandhi has three votes and I have only one vote. (Laughter.) ”

6- Only a brave man has the right to be a LEADER and Mr. Jinnah was that brave man. Despite having the struggle for fighting for his nation’s basic rights, he talked about the rights of our Muslim brothers and sisters, the Palestinians, in the following words:
“Then the next point was with regard to Palestine. We are told that endeavours, earnest endeavours, are being made to meet the reasonable, national demands of the Arabs. Well, we cannot be satisfied by earnest endeavours, sincere endeavours, best endeavours. (Laughter.) We want that the British Government should in fact and actually meet the demands of the Arabs in Palestine. (Hear, hear.)”

7- The message of unity was the major point in all his speeches because a leader’s big support and motivation is his united nation. That’s why, while addressing the Muslims on 23rd March 1940, Mr. Jinnah concluded his speech with the following lines:
“I think that the masses are wide awake. They only want your guidance and your lead. Come forward as servants of Islam. Organise the people economically, socially, educationally, and politically, and I am sure that you will be a power that will be accepted by everybody. (Cheers.)”

Despite that struggling time, Jinnah’s words introduce us to a courageous and a brave Leader and give us hope. But if we compare this speech to today’s leader’s speeches, we can easily examine the major difference between both speeches and that difference is ” Bravery “. As Jinnah was a brave Leader who was aware of his rights and wanted to fight for them but Today’s leaders are not Brave, so, in spite of knowing their rights, unfortunately,they just don’t want to fight for them.