Mohammad Ali Jinnah paid full respect to the court orders. He did not meet Ruttie for about one-and-a-half year, but the compulsive separation infused in him new zeal and enhanced sentiments of love for her. Both of them derived satisfaction from the fact that the court orders could be applied only till Ruttie was a minor, and the time proved it right. On February 20, 1918, as she reached 18, she, the brave girl, walked out of the parental house with nothing, but a flame of love in her young heart.To Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who was not just a lawyer, but by nature a law-abiding person, Ruffle’s action was somewhat confusing, but he acted as a lawyer. He at once consulted his friends, especially Mohammad Umer Sobhani, and took Ruttie to the Jamia Mosque where Ruttie’s conversion to Islam took place in front of a great religious scholar, Maulana Nazir Ahmad Khujahdi.Next day, all the major daily newspapers highlighted this event. The Statesman reported that “Miss Ruttenbai, the only daughter of Sir Dinshaw Petit, yesterday underwent conversion to Islam and is today to be married to the Honourable M.A. Jinnah.” It is notable here that Ruttie converted to Islam on Thursday, the 6th of the Islamic month of Rajab. This date being observed among the Indian Muslims as the anniversary of great Saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri. On the morning of April 19, Ruttie was joined in wedlock with Mohammad Ali Jinnah.The marriage was performed under the Muslim Shi’ite doctrine. Maulana Mohammad Hasan Najafi signed the document on behalf of the bride and Shariat Madar Aqai Haji Mohammad Abdul Hashim Najafi signed on behalf of the bridegroom. The attorneys and witnesses included Shareef Dewji Kanji, Umer Sobhani, Raja Ali Mohammad Khan of Mahmoodabad and Ghulam Ali. The next day all the newspapers again published a news item about the marriage. On April 21, 1918, an Urdu newspaper of Lahore, Roznama Paisa, published a news item on Jinnah’s marriage. Translated, the item read: “The renowned Parsi Baronet, Sir Dinshaw’s daughter Ruttenbai converted to Islam on April 18, and on the 19 she was married to a renowned barrister, Honourable Mohammad Ali Jinnah.”Sharifuddin Pirzada writes that in Nikah register the event is cited under the serial No 118.37 Nikahnama (wedding paper) written in Persian language.According to the details of the Nikahnama, the dowry was settled as one thousand one rupee. However, Jinnah presented Ruttie one hundred and twenty-five thousand rupees as a gift. The marriage with Ruttie was actually the opening of the second phase of his marital life after a gap of some 22 years.

Reproduced from Ruttie Jinnah: The Story, Told and Untold