Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity 1st Edition

I am indebted to Mr. Jinnah for the gift he gave us all in the form of a state where we can freely partake in the pleasures of life often denied to the muslims to the east. If it had not happened I would be reading Anandamath (a tale of Hindu lords massacring muslims).Mr. Ahmed has accomplished a marvelous effort in the writings of Jinnah. He very clearly presents the general situation and tensions prevalent during the times; and the decisions that were made.

Good read

The author for the first time shows Jinnah as a person--not as the cold, and calculating robot that many others have depicted him to be. His strengths and weakness are laid out for everyone to see. Ahmed's thesis is that Jinnah is as significant to Muslims today as Saladin was to Muslims almost a millennium ago.Many interesting subjects that are topics of dispute regarding Jinnah are covered in this work. Why is Jinnah relevant to Pakistan today? What were Jinnah's motives in pushing for Pakistan? How did Jinnah convert from being the most avid supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity to the strongest opponent of it? Was Jinnah secular? Was his plan for Pakistan a secular one, or one based on Islamic Law? All of these questions are answered satisfactorily. A must read for anyone who wishes to know anything regarding modern history of the Indian subcontinent!

I would like to respond to your comments with respect to muslims in India. It a shame that you have only met 1 Indian Muslim in Silicon Valley...but have you ever thought why?Maybe because the 130 million + muslims in India have stayed in India, unlike the abundant Pakistani population that migrated West. I feel very bad for your Indian Muslim friend, who has suffered under the tyranny of Indian Hindu's. It strange, because my family, who are all Indian muslims, are very succesful and hold have very successful careers, my grandfather was the head architect of the state, my other grandfather was a civil engineer, head of his department, my aunt has a great job with a leading hotel, we have many relatives, who hold highly prominent and respectful positions in the government, army, and airforce. Its unfortunate that in 50+ years of Indian history the only 2 major communial riots heard in India, were of Babri Masjid and Godhra riots, but I must read 5 articles a year on sunni vs shia vs ahmadi vs ismaili vs christian violence in pakistan, the blessed muslim country.AS far as your tales of hindu lords massacring muslims, have you ever heard of a king named aurangzeb?, please read on the history of his massacring and forced converting. Thank god my grandparents stayed in India, where every religion is legal, and every person is a first class citizen. Please do your research before making statements based on the 1 indian muslim you have ever met. I have lived in India and Canada and I am as free to practice my religion in India as I am in Canada.Yours truly, Proud Muslim Indian, Jai Hind.

This book has been written after fifty years of Pakistan and India's creation. At a time when Pakistan is struggling to exist, burdened by sectarian feud, international sanctions, failing economy, poverty, corruption and a sense of national failure amongst it's people.It's arch rival,India,on the other hand has a strong economy, strong military, advanced space avaition program, rapidly progressing IT industry and an emerging super power.It is difficult for any patriotic pakistani to digest this. This book has been written in the same vein. This book tries to give Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, a new face, one which nine out of ten authors failed to see. Sensing a lack of national leaders whom pakistanis can feel proud of and identify with, this book tries to revive Jinnah's image.Trying to portray Jinnah as a hero the author on numerous occasions tries to belittle and berate the other great leaders of the Indian independence movement, namely Nehru, Gandhi, Maulana Azad etc. This is one of the flaws in the authors writing. The greatness of a person should speak for itself, it is not attained by pointing mistakes of other great people. As per the book Jinnah was a proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity but became disillusioned by Gandhi's mass politics and was concerned about the safety of the muslims in India and so demanded a separate state. Elobarating this view the author tries to explain as to how the two cultures (Hindu and Muslim) in the sub-continent are totally different and it would have been impossible for them to co-exist. There is also an attempt to portray the history of the sub-continent as a shrinking muslim empire.The author has done a selective exercise in history to pick events that suit to explain his point of view.The history of the sub-continent is 5000 years old and the muslim era forms only a fraction of that period. It is wrong to say that India was never united before the mughals came. There have been great empires and rulers before the mughals, to name a few Ashoka the great and the Gupta dynasty ( golden age in the Indian history). It is the fate of all great empires to crumble and fall one day and to cling on to the memory of past rulers ( Muslims as per the author, identifying with the mughals) is stupid.The author explains two movements, Pakistanisation and Awamification but fails to talk about the Talibanisation of Pakistan. This last movement is eating into the very heart of Pakistans national and international identity.The failures and disintegration of Pakistan ( Bangladesh) is not India's fault. The problem of kashmir is not as simple as the author tries to make it. India is not the big bully in the sub-continent, it has excellent relations with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Bhutan and China is one of it's biggest trading partners. The only neighbour causing India any problem is Pakistan.Great leaders work hard to keep people together and use cultural diversity as strength to build nations on. Jinnah did the opposit.