In just over seven years, from 1940 to 1947,
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah transformed
Asia. He woke sleeping giants, the Muslims of South
Asia, and gave them a free homeland they had never
dreamed of. He ended their slavery, which had
consumed their vitality, dignity and wealth for nearly
two centuries since their treacherous defeat at Plassey
in 1757. He gave them back their pride as a ruling
power of the vast sub-continent for over 1000 years.
In the words of historian Stanley Wolpert: “Few
individuals significantly alter the course of history.
Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly any
one can be credited with creating a nation-state.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.” These are the
most astounding historical developments any one of
anxious readers is likely to experience and ask: What
was the kind of man who could do what he has done.
This book is an attempt to answer that question
by looking at that remarkable man through a window
of his personal habits, traits and attitudes.
This window has been opened by a person no
less than Quaid-e-Azam’s own trusted Aide-de-Camp Mian Ata Rabbani. Inside the window we see an
extraordinarily elegant, graceful, tastefully dressed,
tall, handsome, erect and witty man with a monocle
on grey silk cord and a stiff white collar which the
famous British journalist Beverly Nicholas saw him
wearing even in the hottest weather of Bombay in
1944.
These are manifestations of his outside
elegance. What was his inside like? The more you
read about the day-to-day characteristics, attributes
and temperament of the charismatic personality inside
the window, the more closeness you find between his
outside elegance and inside flawless approach to life.
Confident, indomitable, steadfast, resolute,
impeccable, unpurchaseable, courageous, full of pride!
You keep coming across many other superlatives; a
man of cold logic, deft reasoning and topmost legal
brain, superbly eloquent, invincible, unconquerable.
These statements are not false ornaments of flattery.
They have come directly from the heart of the author
and his well-researched knowledge.
What to talk of the author? Even contemporaries
of Quaid-e-Azam were full of amazement at the
strength of his character and did not hesitate to shower
lavish praises over his achievements. The celebrated British diplomat Lord Listowel rated Mr. Jinnah as a
bigger political giant of the twentieth century than
even General de Gaulle. American President Harry S.
Truman considered him as the recipient of a devotion
of loyalty seldom accorded to any man. His highness
Sir Agha Khan III said of him: “Of all the statesmen
that I have known in my life—Clemenceau, Lloyd
George, Churchill, Curzon, Mussolini, Mahatama
Gandhi—Jinnah is most remarkable. None of these
men in my view outshown him in strength of character
and that almost scanny combination of precision and
resolution.” Even Quaid-e-Azam’s bitter critics
considered him as outweighing Truman, Stalin, and
Attle put together (Daily Amrit Bazar Patrika of 8th
August 1947) and as hard as diamond with all the
diamond’s brilliance (Daily Statesman).
Peeping through the pages of this book the
reader will see Mian Ata Rabbani in a constant state
of love and mesmerism while serving Quaid-e-Azam
as his Aide-de-Camp. He found his job as the
toughest, hardest and at times most grinding but loved
every moment of it for it turned out to be most
rewarding, engaging, exciting and enjoyable. And
why it should not have been so because he was
spending the most precious moments of his life with aman whom Beverly Nicholas called as the most
important man in Asia who could sway the battle of
politics in Asia this way or that as he chose, for his
100 million Muslims would move to the left, to the
right, to the front, to the rear at his bidding, and
nobody else’s.
