# Jinnahbhai Poonja

Jinnahbhai Poonja (1857 – 15 April 1902) was a prosperous Khoja Gujarati merchant in British India who was founder and chairman of Jinnahbhai & Co. and Graham's Shipping and Trading Company. He was the father of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Fatima Jinnah, alongside 5 other children.

## Biography

Jinnahbhai Poonja was born in Paneli Moti, Gujarat, to Poonja Gokuldas Meghji (who was born a Hindu, later converted to Islam, and was the son of a Lohana Hindu Merchant). The family bleonged to a Gujarati-speaking community of Lohana caste. Jinnahbhai had two brothers, Valji and Nathoo, and one sister, Manbai. Throughout his life Poonja was a prosperous merchant and businessman who brought his family up in a wealthy lifestyle. Jinnahbhai married Mitthibhai Jinnah in 1874. Poonja started Jinnahbhai & Co., a wealthy merchant company that operated out of Karachi. Due to his partnership with Graham's Shipping and Trading Company, Poonja moved to Karachi, where its headquarters operated. Karachi was an optimal place at the time due to the opening of the Suez Canal, meaning Karachi was closer to Europe, making it a much more popular port than before. Poonja rented the Wazir Mansion for his family, and this is where his children, most notably Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born. In 1900, Poonja returned to Gujarat, where he died in 1901.

### Upbringing and business

Most of Paneli Moti were agriculturalists; however, Poonja's family managed handlooms instead. Poonja's brothers worked on the handlooms alongside their father, but this way of life did not attract Poonja, who wanted to be a businessman. Poonja left for Gondal, where he started his business with much success. In her book, "My Brother", Fatima Jinnah stated about her father,
   "His father gave him little cash but much advice that before he invested his money in any business, he should make a thorough study as to which would be the best business to enter. Having an analytical and cautious mind and a meager purse, my father was not a man to rush into a venture in a hurry. It did not take him long to find a few profitable lines in which he could do quick buying and selling. His flair for business and hard work soon helped him to make sufficient profits, enabling him to add substantially to the original capital. When he returned from Gondal to Paneli after some months, his father was happy to find that his son had made good in a big city. Believing as they did in the old traditional values of life, they were afraid that temptations in Gondal might allure their youthful son and distract his mind from a lucrative business that he had succeeded in establishing in such a short time"
In 1874, Poonja married Mitthibhai, a fellow Khoja, and they eventually had 7 children: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Ahmed Ali Jinnah and Bunde Ali Jinnah, Rahmat Bai Jinnah, Shireen Bai Jinnah, Maryam Bai Jinnah, and Fatima Jinnah.

### Raising his children

Unlike his ancestors who were originally Hindu, Poonja raised his children in a more Islamic way, abandoning many Hindu traditions and customs his family had previously practiced. In 1886, Poonja got his son Mahomedali admitted into the Sindh Madrasa, before also having him attend the Anjuman-e-Islam School in Bombay. Poonja eventually sent Mahomedali to England after getting offered an apprenticeship by Sir Frederick Leigh Croft to work for his firm, Graham's Shipping and Trading Company. It was needed for Mahomedali to go to England because there was a legal proceeding against Poonja, which placed the family's property at risk of being sequestered.

### Legal Issues

By the time Mahomedali went to England, Poonja's wife Mithibai and Mahomedali’s wife, Emibai Jinnah, both died. Poonja was in debt and owed money to numerous businesses and was faced with numerous legal battles. Fatima Jinnah stated,
   "On reaching home, my father was soon in conference with him, explaining to him that the family business was in ruins, and that he had to pay large sums of money to a number of business houses, some of whom had filed cases in law courts. This was true also of those business deals that my father had done in the name of Mohammad Ali Jinnahbhai & Co, hoping that by the time his son returned from England he would take over, besides the family business, a business of his own, already well established and prosperous. That business also proved a flop, and there were a number of cases pending against the firm of Mohammad Ali Jinnahbhai & Co. Here was a young Barrister, whom the gloomy prospect of defending cases against himself stared in the face. 'My son', father said, 'all my dreams have come tumbling down and I don't know what will happen to you and your young brothers and sisters. I am already broken down in health and I don't know how long I will live.'"
With his life in Karachi falling apart, Poonja moved his family to Bombay in 1893, where Mahomedali began to take care of his family's expenses instead of Poonja.

## Death

Poonja died on 15 April 1902, leaving behind 7 children. Mahomedali, now legally renamed to Muhammad Ali, would move to Bombay as a barrister and to support his family. Muhammad Ali Jinnah would go on to be one of the most notable Indian and later Pakistani political leaders of the 20th century.