Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Mr Jinnah Had to chance to go through an article in urdu couple of day ago in which the author mentions about the relations of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Mr Jinnah during pre - partition era:- During independence movement, a stage came when Maulana ashraf ali thanwi realized that after the departure of British, Muslims would be governed by the leaders who had acquired western education. So therefore he decided to impart religious training to those leaders and oranised a delegation, which was headed by maulana murtaza hassan. The other members were maulana shabbir ali thanwi, maulana abdul jabbar, maulana abdul ghani, maulana husnain moazzam and maulana zafar ahmad usmani. Maulana shabbir ahmad usmani and maulana zafar ahmad usmani were real brothers and nephews of maulana ashraf ali thanwi. In December 1938, the annual meeting of muslim league was planned. The delegation reached patna except maulana shabbir ahmad usmani, who couldn’t join due to the illness of his mother. The delegation of scholars wanted to meet mr jinnah prior to the meeting of muslim league, which was granted to them. The meeting of scholars with mr jinnah lasted for an hour. The scholars inquired from mr jinnah about his religious obligations. Mr jinnah admitted about his weaknesses and promised to rectify himself. This was due to the influence of maulana ashraf ali thanwi, otherwise mr jinnah was not a person to be influenced by others so easily. Mr jinnah also confessed that he was a sinful person and promised to offer his prayers. The scholars also attended the annual meeting of muslim league in which they advised the members of muslim league to adopt Islamic ways and means in the light of instructions given by maulana ashraf ali thanwi. Next year, another meeting of scholars with mr jinnah was held in which he stated that he understood the importance of religion, which can not be separated from politics. Infact politics was subservient to religion. This meeting was also attended by Mufti muhammd shafi ( father of mufti taqi usmani). The representatives of maulana ashraf ali thanwi kept meting with mr jinnah till May 1947, while ensuring his religious grooming, which resulted into a firm relationship of mr jinnah with maulana ashraf ali thanwi and his family. According to maulana zafar ahmad usmani, at one occasion, it was mentioned before mr jinnah that number of scholars were more in Indian congress as compared to muslim league. Mr jinnah asked, who were those scholars? In reply the names of maulana hussain madni, mufti kifyat ullah and maulana abul kalam azad were mentioned. Mr jinnah replied that muslim league had a big scholar ( maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi) on its side, whose piety, status and knowledge was much more than other scholars.