Who is
Maryam Jinnah?
Ruttie remained till the very end a liberal
agnostic who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her husband in the many
progressive and liberal causes he took up for India in his political career
A few years ago I was
amused to read in the newspaper that Nazaria Pakistan Workers Trust in Lahore
was holding a meeting to commemorate the life of Maryam Jinnah as a model
Muslim woman. I was amused because it was the first I had heard of a Maryam
Jinnah. Upon further inquiry, it was revealed that she was married to the
Quaid-e-Azam and was once known by her Non-Muslim name Rattanbai Petit. The
problem: Rattanbai or Ruttie as she was most commonly known as never used the
name Maryam. Her Nikahnama stated the name Rattanbai and she always signed her
letters as Ruttie.
Her conversion to
Islam was a legal formality at best. The law at the time required that both
parties to an inter-communal marriage must either renounce their faith or one
of the two parties should convert to the other party's faith. Jinnah being the
elected representative of Bombay's Muslims could not afford to renounce his
faith. Nor was a conversion to Zoarastrian faith possible. Indeed Jinnah had
been arguing against this law in the legislature for at least a decade. He had
most notably asked the government in 1912 to override objections of devout
Hindus and Muslims to allow inter-communal marriage without such conditions.
Still the law remained unchanged and Ruttie's conversion was the only way the
marriage would have been possible. By all accounts Ruttie did not adopt the
ways of a pious Muslim wife. She continued to dress in fashionable clothes that
were considered scandalous even by the British. Lady Wellingdon's famous snub
to her for wearing a low cut dress is well known. Jinnah's refusal to have
dinner with the Wellingdons is equally well known, leading to the fantastic
feud Lord Wellingdon and Jinnah which culminated in Jinnah's famous triumph at
the Bombay Town Hall in 1918. According to Stanley Wolpert, whose famous lines
on Jinnah's greatness Pakistanis do not tire quoting, Ruttie continued to bring
"lovely ham sandwiches" for her husband to his law chamber. Does that
sound like good Muslim behaviour to you? The new book by Sheela Reddy called
"Mr and Mrs Jinnah" is almost a daily account of the marriage in the
backdrop of Indian politics. It shows that Ruttie remained till the very end a
liberal agnostic who stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband in the many
progressive and liberal causes he took up for India in his political career.
Some also argue that had Ruttie not died, Jinnah would have never taken up the
cause of Pakistan.
Pakistani propaganda
on Partition is wholly dependent on proving that Pakistan was the culmination
of the desire of Muslims to establish a purely Islamic order. Being the
secular, anglicised lawyer that Jinnah was — he would stick out like a sore
thumb in this narrative
What caused Jinnah's
conversion to the Muslim cause 1930s onwards remains a subject of intense
debate for historians but what is surprising is this attempt by Pakistanis to
Islamize poor old Ruttie who died in 1929. Mr. Shakir Lakhani, a writer from
Karachi, alerted me to the Wikipedia page on her. It is now titled "Maryam
Jinnah". Wikipedia works through published sources as references. Yet
there is not a single source cited for the claim that she changed her name to
Maryam Jinnah. Still the Wikipedia editor in charge of the page, a Pakistani
who goes by the name "Top Gun", stubbornly refuses to rename the
page. The argument is that if Cassius Clay was called Muhammad Ali, Ruttie
Jinnah should be called Maryam Jinnah. Of course the fact that Ruttie never used
the name is immaterial. That there is no source showing that she was given the
name Maryam is also immaterial. There is no arguing against the wall of
ignorance those years of Pakistan Studies builds in a Pakistani's head. Not
only is she christened as Maryam but the Wikipedia page has this mouthful to
describe her: 'Rattanbai "Ruttie" Petit Jinnah, born Rattanbai Petit;
20 February 1900 - 20 February 1929), also known by her married name Maryam
Jinnah, was the second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah-an important figure in the
foundation of Pakistan'. Important figure in the foundation of Pakistan indeed;
she would be spinning in her grave (which by the way also has the name
Rattanbai and not Maryam on it).
Pakistani propaganda on
partition -especially since General Zia's regime started its nefarious
reconstruction of the Pakistani narrative- is wholly dependent on proving that
Pakistan was the culmination of the desire of Muslims to establish a purely
Islamic order. The secular Anglicized lawyer that Jinnah was, he would stick
out as a sore thumb in this narrative. Therefore he had to be remade also and
in the process made into a caricature that hangs on our walls. In 2000s, when
General Musharraf's supposedly enlightened and moderate regime was in power,
Jinnah's picture in a suit and tie was also removed from the currency and
replaced by one in a Sherwani, a dress he donned on a select few occasions. To
a certain extent, therefore, Jinnah himself is responsible for this posthumous
Islamization he is subjected to. As a politician in the 1940s he did actively
canvass votes by appealing to varying notions of Muslim culture and identity,
even if his idea of Muslim culture and identity was completely different from
that which now is being forced down our throats. But what is Ruttie's fault
that she must be dressed up in a Burqah and have her name changed in this
fashion?
This is how cultures are
moulded by those in power! Gone are the days of Khuda Hafiz in Pakistan and
indeed India. Everyone now says "Allah Hafiz". Ramzan becomes
Ramadan. Al-Bakistan license plates have grown like wild fire. In India Bombay
has become Mumbai, Calcutta Kolkatta, Benaras Varanasi and so on and so forth.
Perhaps it is not surprising then that Ruttie Jinnah has been re-imagined as
Maryam Jinnah. After all both Pakistan and India, these two post-colonial
behemoths, are in a competition to find the lowest possible depths in a mad
rush to distort and even erase history- the Swadeshi movement of our times.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/e-paper/2017-05-22/lahore/11760/86685
The writer is a
practising lawyer. He blogs at hhtp://globallegalforum.blogspot.com and his
twitter handle is @therealylh
Post a Comment