Karan Thapar 
In an interview to discuss his analysis and portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in his new book Pakistan: Origins, Identity and Future, Pervez Hoodbhoy, who is internationally recognised for his championing of constitutional and human rights, says Jinnah “was not a deep thinker … Jinnah had many other virtues, but he did not have a blueprint charting out the future of Pakistan. As a tactician, he was brilliant. But he was not a strategist … the absence of a clear vision meant that Pakistan would continue to wallow in confusion, unable to fix its national priorities and goals”.
In a 40-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Prof. Hoodbhoy, who is also one of Pakistan’s leading nuclear physicists, said Jinnah never made clear whether he wanted Pakistan to be a Muslim or Islamic state or whether it should be a secular state. He said things to support both interpretations at different stages of his life. Consequently, Prof. Hoodbhoy says, “The state he created remains mired in confusion.”
Prof. Hoodbhoy says Jinnah was “fixated on one goal, to create a country for the Muslims of India. Beyond that, he had no thought”.
Prof. Hoodbhoy quotes Jinnah’s response at Aligarh Muslim University in 1945 and 1946 when he was asked what sort of country Pakistan would be. Prof. Hoodbhoy says he replied, “Anyone who asks me what Pakistan will be is an enemy of Pakistan.”
This, Prof. Hoodbhoy says, was a brilliant tactical answer because anything more specific would have angered and annoyed the many constituencies that Jinnah needed to please and keep on side. However, it also meant, that there was no planning and thinking about the sort of country that emerged after independence on August 14, 1947.
Prof. Hoodbhoy says Jinnah’s attitude after independence was that “angularities and bumps”, as Jinnah called them, would iron themselves out. On other occasions, Prof. Hoodbhoy said Jinnah was inclined to “shrug such issues off”. Prof. Hoodbhoy says this was “a profound mistake”.
Finally, asked if Jinnah were to miraculously materialise today what would he make of Pakistan in 2023, Prof. Hoodbhoy says “he won’t be particularly happy that his liberal and pluralistic impulses have been subjugated, he would be very unhappy to see the exodus of Hindus, the break-up of the country and the Baloch still struggling”.
Speaking about Jinnah the person, Prof. Hoodbhoy said Jinnah had “no profound understanding of Islam, he never quoted a verse from the Quran, he never referred to the Hadith”.
Prof. Hoodbhoy says, “There is no known instance of Jinnah having criticised Hinduism.”
Prof. Hoodbhoy says before 1937 Jinnah “was free of religious prejudice and not particularly attached to Islam”. After 1937, when the Muslim League was badly defeated even in the Muslim-majority provinces that became Pakistan, Jinnah used religion to create a constituency for himself and a demand for Pakistan. In other words, Jinnah used religion strategically as a political tool and did not see it as a personal or ideological commitment.
Of the man and his personal knowledge of Islam, Prof. Hoodbhoy writes, “Unable to read any Islamic language – Arabic, Persian or Urdu … culturally, Jinnah was more British than Indian. Those of strong religious faith despised him.”
Of the man and his style Prof. Hoodbhoy writes, “With Victorian manners, this impeccably dressed secular and anglicised man had a connoisseur’s appreciation of fine foods and wines. His culinary choices – which included ham and pork – outraged the strict Muslim.”
If you wish to understand Muhammad Ali Jinnah better, and in particular the different sides of his personality and character, the contradictions in his political strategy, the lapses and even failures in the way Pakistan has developed and how much of that is attributable to Jinnah, this is an interview you should see.