JINNAH & PAKISTAN : some amazing facts

INTRODUCTION.  Dr Safdar Mehmood is a retired Pakistani civil servant who writes a regular column in the Urdu newspaper ‘Jang’.  In his column published on 16 August 2013, Dr Safdar Mehmood presented some remarkable dates linking the creation of Pakistan to events in the life of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of Pakistan Movement and the country’s first Governor General (he was bestowed the title Quaid-e-Azam, the Great Leader). Dr Safdar Mehmood says some people might treat these facts as no more than mere historical coincidence but for many others these contain a profound reality. Judge for yourself.

             Two photographs of young Jinnah

 1.     Pakistan was created when division of India took place at midnight between the 14^th and 15^th August, 1947 in the Islamic month of Ramadan. The night of 14^th August was the 27^th night of Ramadan, which is a key date in the Islamic calendar. It is the night when God’s abundant Mercy descends on earth for those who have fasted during the month and observed the specified moral restraints: Lailatul-Qadr, the Night of Grace and Power, when Muslims try to stay awake during the night in prayer and reflection.

2.     When a new day dawned, Pakistanis celebrated their first Independence Day on 15 August 1947, which happened to be the last Friday of the month of Ramadan, known as Jumatul-vida’.

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3.     In 1948, and subsequently, the Day of Independence could have been celebrated either on 14^th August or on 15^th August. Across the border in India, the Hindu seers recommended to their government to declare 15^th August as the Indian Independence Day, which they considered an auspicious day. Quaid-e-Azam, however, opted for 14^th August as Pakistan’s Day of Independence, which gave rise to some astonishing coincidences relating to a number of dates.

Muhammad Ali & Ruttie Jinnah

4.     Quaid-e-Azam’s two loves were Pakistan and Ruttie Dinshaw, a young Parsi lady who converted to Islam and married Jinnah in 1918 when she was just 18. Exactly 28 years before the creation of Pakistan, the Jinnahs’ daughter, Dina, was born in the night falling between 14 August and 15^th August, 1919. When the first day dawned for the infant Dina it, too, was a Friday.

5.     Quaid-e-Azam’s date of birth falls on 25 December. He died on 11 September 1948. His right hand man in the freedom struggle, and Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan (LAQ), died on 16 October some years later.

6.     Each year Pakistan’s Independence Day, Quaid-e-Azam’s dates of birth and death, and the date of death of Liaquat Ali Khan consistently fall on the same day of the week. Dr Safdar Mehmood has produced a table to draw attention to this coincidence:

Year	Pakistan’s Independence Day, 14 Aug	Jinnah’s date of death, 11 September	Jinnah’s date of birth, 25 December	LAQ’s date of death, 16 October
2004	Saturday	Saturday	Saturday	Saturday
2005	Sunday	Sunday	Sunday	Sunday
2006	Monday	Monday	Monday	Monday
2007	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday
2008	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday
2009	Friday	Friday	Friday	Friday
2010	Saturday	Saturday	Saturday	Saturday
2011	Sunday	Sunday	Sunday	Sunday
2012	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday
2013	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday

Dr Safdar Mehmood says one might take the aforementioned facts as mere coincidence if one wished. However, he himself and countless other Pakistanis, see these as Nature’s way of indicating the latent potential of Pakistan and the greatness of Jinnah, who succeeded in winning a homeland for the Muslims of India against stiff resistance from the British and the Hindus of India. Those who only go by outward appearances tend to see the current combination of internal unrest and foreign interference in the affairs of Pakistan - conspiracies, intrigue, espionage and direct invasion by way of drone strikes or border incursions - as lethal to the very existence of Pakistan.  However, to those who see a deeper reality at work these troubles provide a necessary training ground for Pakistan to achieve its true potential as an Islamic state: a haven for suffering humanity, free of oppression and bigotry, where social justice and welfare prevail within an Islamic economic system which restrains greed and excess.

The link to Dr Safdar Mehmood's article is:  http://jang.com.pk/jang/aug2013-daily/16-08-2013/col3.htm