Aqeel Abbas Jafari
Researcher and historian, Karachi
It was September 11, 1948 when the Pakistani nation lost the shadow of their leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Haji Hidayat Hussain Azimullah alias Haji Kilo, the khaki body of Muhammad Ali Jinnah before Fajr prayers on September 12, 1948
After the Fajr prayer, Maulana Anis-ul-Hassain offered his funeral prayer in which Syed Hashim Raza, Syed Kazim Raza, Yousuf Haroon and other leaders attended.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's funeral departed from Governor General House at three pm, the vehicle on which Jinnah' s funeral was kept, along with Pakistan Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, Foreign Minister Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar, Pirzada Abdul Sattar, Jogandarnath Mandal, Pir Ilahi Bakhsh and Miran Muhammad Shah etc. were walking.
In a car behind the procession, Ms. Fatima Jinnah, Begum Saghra Hidayatullah and Muhammad Ali Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia, who came to Karachi from Mumbai in a special flight this afternoon.
Meanwhile Karachi Commissioner Syed Hashim Raza and his brother Police Chief Syed Kazim Raza roamed around Karachi the whole night and finally they managed to select the location where Muhammad Ali Jinnah was to be buried.
At four and a half o'clock, the funeral procession reached the exhibition ground where Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani offered the funeral prayer of Jinnah. After that, the burial phase began and Jinnah's funeral was moved into the grave at six o'clock in the evening on September 12, 1948
Construction of Mazar-e-Qaid: Design Competition
Ever since the death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the whole nation was striving to build the tomb of the father of the nation. For this purpose, a fund named as the Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Fund was headed by Governor General Khawaja Nazimuddin of Pakistan on September 20, 1948 Established which issued coupons of one rupee, five rupees and hundred rupees.
The main purpose of the establishment of this fund was that the government as well as the public could join hands in building Jinnah's shrine.
For seven to eight years, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's grave remained the center of Ziarat under the shadow of a Shaman. Meanwhile, two of Jinnah companions Liaqat Ali Khan and Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar were also buried at some distance from Jinnah' s grave.
Gradually, designs for Jinnah's shrine began to be received. One of these designs was designed by Mehdi Ali Mirza, the architect of the Public Works Department, the other by Zainyar Jang, the architect of Allama Iqbal's shrine, and the third by Turkish architect Wasfi Agili. But the government. Pakistan has rejected these three designs.
The first and most significant breakthrough in this series occurred when the Government of Pakistan allocated 61 acres of land for this purpose in early 1957.
In the middle of the same year, the International Union of Architects (IUA) organized an international competition for designing Jinnah's shrine on the Ema of the Central Committee of the Quaid-e-Azam Memorial. The designs were accepted until 31 December 1957. In this competition 57 renowned architects from 17 countries participated.
An international jury was also set up to review the designs of these architects. The chairman of the jury was Mr. Feroz Khan Noon of Pakistan.
However, they nominated Finance Minister Syed Amjad Ali to preside over his engagements. Other members of the jury included some of the world's best-known architects.
The meeting of this jury began on 8 February 1958 in Karachi and on 15 February 1958 the jury announced its decision.
The decision made the design of a London-based construction firm Reglan Square & Partners. The design was developed by an architect associated with the firm, Robert & Roberts.
The competition prize money of Rs 25,000 was also awarded to the same organization. The proposed design of Raglan Square & Partners was a masterpiece of modern architecture and was made in a hyperbolid architectural style. But soon newspapers started publishing articles against the design. These posts said that the design is not in line with Islamic architecture and is not worthy of Jinnah's personality.
Ms Fatima Jinnah took strict notice of these posts and announced to reject the design of Raglan Square & Partners.
Requested Mumbai's Yahya Merchant to hand over design responsibilities. She expressed a desire that Jinnah's shrine be designed by Mumbai-based architect Yahya Qasim Merchant whom Jinnah himself personally liked.
Government of Pakistan respected the wish of Mother Nation and contacted Yahya Merchant and asked her to design the shrine of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Eventually, the Government of Pakistan approached Mumbai's famous architect Yahya Merchant, on the suggestion of Ms. Fatima Jinnah, who had also been the consulting architect of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Yahya Merchant immediately complied with the request and, keeping in mind the personality, character and dignity of Jinnah, designed his majesty a tomb which was also liked by Ms. Fatima Jinnah, after her liking on December 12, 1959. The Government of Pakistan has also approved this design.
Yahya Merchant's full name was Yahya Qasim Bhai Merchant and he was born in Surat in 1903. The reason for Yahya Merchant is the shrine of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, whose map was designed by him at the request of Ms. Fatima Jinnah.
Yahya Merchant also designed the main gate of the Sports Museum in Mumbai and the famous exhibition in Karachi. Yahya Merchant was also an honorary associate with the teaching department of her mother, Sir JJ School of Arts. She passed away on September 9, 1990 Happened in Mumbai.
Construction of the shrine began on 8 February 1960 after approval of Yahya Merchant's design and digging of the foundations began on 7 March 1961. The tomb's foundations were also buried old Pakistani coins and documents of Resolution Pakistan 1940
Foundation stone ceremony of Mazar-e-Qaid
On July 31, 1960, a dignified ceremony was held in which President Field Marshal Ayub Khan laid the formal foundation stone of the shrine. On this occasion, a marble plaque was also installed on the shrine, which read the following:
Tomb of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Date of birth 25 December 1876. Date of death 11 September 1948. The foundation stone was laid by Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan on Sunday 31 July 1960, according to 6 Safar al-Muzaffar 1380 AH.
This foundation stone remained on Jinnah's tomb for a long time, but as soon as Ayub Khan left power, the next government removed it from the tomb.
For the next ten years, the construction of Jinnah's shrine proceeded with great slowness, however it accelerated when President Muhammad Yahya Khan inspected it in April 1969 and a board was formed headed by Lieutenant General SGM Peerzada. Diya
A few months later, on 15 January 1971, the building reached completion. On this occasion, President General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan visited the shrine of Jinnah along with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's companion Ms. Shireen Bai, where they were welcomed by Principal Staff Officer and Leader. Azam Memorial Board Chairman Lieutenant General SGM Peerzada did it.
On this occasion, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan inspected the shrine in detail and recited Fatiha on the shrines of Jinnah and his companions. He thanked Honorary Advisor Construction Engineer Mr. M. Rehman and Architect MA Ahad for their dedication and attention.
This job is almost done.
Gift of lantern from China.
Two weeks after the inauguration, on January 29, 1970, the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Chang Tang, presented a beautiful lantern by the Muslim Association of the People's Republic of China to the President of Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Memorial Committee, Major General Pirzada, in a simple ceremony. What.
This beautiful lantern was installed right on top of the replica of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Mazar. General Pirzada thanked the government and the people of the People's Republic of China for presenting this gift and said that this gift is a four moon to this monument of the father of the nation. Will put it on.
The lantern installed on the shrine of Jinnah starts from a height of 19 feet from the ground and has a total length of 81 feet. The lantern has four parts made in the style of the Buddha stoppa.
The round of the lantern gradually decreases from bottom to top and contains a total of 40 golden lamps. This lantern lit the shrine for 46 years.
Around the year 2016, the Chinese government proposed to Pakistan that they wanted to replace this lantern and install a new lantern in its place.
The government accepted the offer and performed the ritual of installation of this new spectacular lantern at the shrine of founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 17 December 2016.
The ceremony was attended by President Mamnoon Hussain, Advisor to the Prime Minister for National Historical and Literary Heritage Division Irfan Siddiqui, Ambassador of China to Pakistan, Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar and Chief Engineer Muhammad Arif of Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board .
The length of this new lantern is 26 meters and weighs 1.2 tonnes. The preparation of this lantern cost Rs 22 crore and more than eight kilograms of gold is used.
It has four circles. The first circle has 16, the second has 10, the third has eight and the fourth has six circles.
This lantern was manufactured in China in a period of four months and 13 Chinese experts assembled it in Karachi in a period of about one and a half months and then installed it in Mazar Quaid.