Quaid-e-Azam's father, Poonja Jinnah, lived a life of ups and downs

 

Quaid-e-Azam's father, Poonja Jinnah, lived a life of ups and downs

We know that Quaid-e-Azam's father's name was Poonja Jinnah, but we know very little about his life circumstances. One of the reasons for this is that very little has been written about them.

Rizwan Ahmed's book 'Poonja Jinnah', published in Karachi in 1979 and prefaced by Quaid-e-Azam's sister Shireen Jinnah, contains a lot of important information about Poonja Jinnah, according to which Quaid-e-Azam's family was Ismaili. And he belonged to Gujarat Kathia Ward.

Poonja Jinnah's father Poonja Meghji came to Karachi from Kathia Ward

Aga Khan first migrated from Iran in 1840 and came to Sindh via Balochistan. He was accompanied by around a thousand people, including his relatives and assistants.

At that time, the total population of Karachi was 14,000, in which the population of Muslims was around 5,000.

Poonja Meghji was a resident of Kathia Ward. When he came to know that the Aga Khan had moved from Iran to Karachi, he also came to Karachi in 1861, one of the reasons being the famine in Kathia Ward.

Coming to Karachi, Poonja Meghji started a business which soon evolved into a firm called 'Walji Poonjabhai'. The firm dealt in fish, glue and leather which later became a company.

Poonja Meghji's youngest son was Jeena Bhai, who studied at the Church Mission School, the first English school in Karachi, and later became a teacher in the same school.

He had a double respect in the city. On one hand, he belonged to a well-known business family of the city, on the other hand, he was also educated, due to which when Jina Poonja's relationship was sought at the house of Aga Khan's minister, Juma Musa, he immediately married his daughter Shireen. So I said yes.

JOURNEY FROM JAINA TO JINNAH

Poonja Meghji's youngest son was named Poonjabhai, but because of his short stature he was called Jina. Jeena in Gujarati means lean.

Jaina Poonja's in-laws were Persians. They started mistaking it for the Arabic word 'Jinnah', which means arm. Thus he came to be called Poonja Jinnah from Jina Poonja.

Before the arrival of the British, Karachi was inhabited within high mud walls. This wall was so wide that two bullock carts could be driven on it.

There were two gates in this wall, one gate was called 'Metha Dar' and the other was called 'Khara Dar'. The gates of the forts were closed at night to avoid pirates.

The British came and broke the walls and built two roads outside them, including a Chagla street. After marriage, Poonja Jinnah started living here by renting a house.

Near here lived a merchant Noor Muhammad Lalan, who had friendly relations with Poonja Jinnah. When there was a movement for the establishment of Aligarh-style educational institution Sindh Madrasah-e-Islam in Karachi, the two prominent Muslims who provided financial support for it were Poonja Jinnah and Noor Muhammad Lalan.

A child was born to Poonja Jinnah on 25 December 1876 in the same house on Chagla Street, who was named Muhammad Ali by his maternal uncle Qasim Musa, which later included the suffix Jinnah Bhai.

Poonja Jinnah had eight children born to Shireen, including Muhammad Ali, Rehmat B., Banda Ali, Maryam B., Ahmad Ali, Shireen B., Fatima B. and one child who died and was not named. was able to go while later the child's mother also died.

Rise and fall in business 

Poonja Jinnah left education and took over his family business as the rapidly expanding business required him. Poonja Jinnah soon started exporting his goods to British companies, for which he also set up company offices in Bombay and other coastal cities.

They also had a fleet of boats for hunting and trading.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was still studying in the fourth standard when his father suffered a loss in business. During this period several financial cases were registered against Poonja Jinnah. He was successful in them, but his company was declared insolvent, which forced Muhammad Ali Jinnah to temporarily abandon his studies and become a supporter of his father. Father taught Muhammad Ali at home.

Mother's condition before Jinnah's departure for London 

When Poonja Jinnah decided to send her son to the Wilayat for higher education, his mother made a condition that he would be able to go to the Wilayat if Muhammad was married first, because she was afraid that there would be a white person from the Wilayat. Do not bring along and secondly, the mother had a suspicion that when she came from Wilayat, she did not know whether she would be alive or not.

At that time, Jinnah was around 16 years old and his bride was nine, ten years old, the daughter of Lira Khemji, a wealthy merchant of Bombay.

Lira Khemji used to export 'wool' to British companies. This marriage took place with fanfare. After marriage, Jinnah stayed in Karachi for a year, after graduating from school he left for London in January 1893.

Brief stay in Jhark and migration to Bombay

It was only two years since Muhammad Ali passed away that an epidemic broke out in Karachi. On the one hand, due to the destruction of Poonja Jinnah's business and the plague from above, the entire family left Karachi and settled on a mound at Jhark.

It was here that Aga Khan's family also settled on a farm, where Aga Khan III was born.

When the effects of the epidemic subsided, Jinnah along with his relatives went to Karachi and settled in the Ranji Pitha Building. A few months later, he was invited to Bombay by his relative Qasim Musa, where he lived with his family in Khawaja Mahal. In 1896 Muhammad Ali Jinnah also returned as a barrister, started practicing in the Bombay High Court and stayed at the Apollo Hotel in Bombay.

In the same year, plague broke out in Bombay and Jinnah's bride died. Meanwhile, a case against Poonja Jinnah was still pending in Karachi, in which Muhammad Ali was also made a party. The case was instituted by a British company.

When Poonja Jinnah appeared in the Karachi court along with his barrister son, it was as if the young barrister turned the tide of the case with his arguments.

The decision to pay thousands of rupees was a fine of a few hundred rupees. Thus Poonja Jinnah's life was spared from all the cases.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali Jinnah got his first big success in Bombay when he became the Magistrate of Bombay Presidency.

It was an occasion of great joy for Poonja Jinnah. In the same year, Poonja Jinnah married his eldest daughter Rehmat B to the famous businessman Qasim Jamal of Calcutta. In 1902, Poonja Jinnah's health began to deteriorate, on which he expressed his desire that the marriage of his second daughter Maryam B should be done in front of his eyes.

She got married to Abedin Bhai, a famous Bombay businessman. Soon after this Poonja Jinnah died on 17 April 1902