Jinnah

Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been both celebrated and reviled for his role in the Partition of India, and the controversies surrounding his actions have only increased since his death. Ishtiaq Ahmed places Jinnah’s actions under intense scrutiny to ascertain the Quaid-i-Azam’s successes and failures, and the meaning and significance of his legacy. Using a wealth of contemporary records and archival material, he traces Jinnah’s journey from an Indian nationalist to a Muslim communitarian, and then from a Muslim nationalist to, finally, Pakistan’s all-powerful head of state. How did the ambassador of Hindu Muslim unity become the inflexible votary of the two-nation theory? Did Jinnah envision Pakistan as a theocratic state? What was federalism? Asking these crucial questions his position on Mahatma Gandhi and against the backdrop of the turbulent struggle against British colonialism, Jinnah is a path-breaking examination of one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century.