Muhammad Ali Jinnah
born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was
a lawyer, politician, and the founder ofPakistan. Jinnah served
as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's
independence on 14 August 1947 and as Pakistan's first Governor-Generalfrom
independence until his death. He is revered in Pakistan
as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader) and Baba-i-Qaum (Father of the
Nation). His birthday is observed as a national holiday.
Born in Karachi and
trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London, Jinnah rose to
prominence in the Indian National Congress in the first two decades
of the 20th century. In these early years of his political career, Jinnah
advocated Hindu–Muslim unity, helping to shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between
the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, a party in which Jinnah had also
become prominent. Jinnah became a key leader in the All India Home Rule
League, and proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to
safeguard the political rights of Muslims should a united British India become
independent. In 1920, however, Jinnah resigned from the Congress when it agreed
to follow a campaign of Satyagraha, or non-violent resistance, advocated
by the influential leader, Mohandas Gandhi.