A wedding is an auspicious occasion that is revered as a momentous milestone and a celebration of bond, love, and kinship between two people and their families. This special occasion, in almost all cultures, is an event worth celebrating. Yet, when love defies social norms, such unions can just as easily become a source of controversy, scandal, and public fascination. Such was the case with the marriage of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his wife Ruttie Petit, also known as Maryam Jinnah.

When Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Ruttie Petit got married in 1918, saying that the news of their nuptials came as quite a shock for their respective families and communities would be quite an understatement. He was a 42-year-old celebrated political leader and lawyer from the Muslim community, she was a barely 18-year-old dazzling princess from the Parsi community. Polar-opposite in almost all respects, the two managed to sustain a decade-long marriage that lasted till Ruttie’s eventual death in 1929.

However did these two individuals hailing from vastly different backgrounds and experiences fall in love?

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Here's how the ill-fated romance and eventual marriage of Jinnah and Ruttie unfolded

Rattanbai Petit, or ‘Ruttie’ as she was called, hailed from the fabulous wealthy and well-connected Petit family that belonged to the Parsi community. Her father, Sir Dinshaw Petit, was a leading industrialist and textile magnate. Being an only child, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that her upbringing was done with much care and consideration, and she grew up surrounded by all the extravagance and materialistic things money could afford.

In contrast, Jinnah, a widower after his first wife (who was also his cousin) succumbed to cholera, was a man of principle and ambition, who hid a deeply romantic side behind his aloof public persona.

At Bombay’s Orient Club, Ruttie developed a close friendship with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was her father’s friend and 23 years her senior. Jinnah was intensely private, while Ruttie was an impulsive romantic idealist. Despite their vast difference in age and temperament, they were drawn to each other. For Ruttie, Jinnah represented maturity, success, and purpose, in sharp contrast to the shallow admirers around her. For Jinnah, Ruttie’s youthful energy, idealism, and carefree spirit rekindled memories of his own lost youth.

When Jinnah sought Sir Dinshaw’s permission to marry his daughter, the industrialist filed a legal petition to restrain him from meeting Ruttie. However, the couple continued to meet in secret. On her 18th birthday, Ruttie is said to have proposed to Jinnah at the ballroom of the Taj Mahal Hotel. Before the two’s marriage could be formalized, Ruttie, a voracious reader, undertook extensive study of Islam and eventually converted, thus adopting the name ‘Maryam.’

On 19 April 1918, two months after the proposal at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Rattanbai Petit, against her family’s wishes and severing ties with them and her community, wed Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

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The aftermath of their wedding ceremony was very much disastrous in the way that sent shockwaves through the nation. Notwithstanding the glaring age difference between the two, both Jinnah and Ruttie were well-known and quite revered figures in their respective social circles. Him, for being the only prominent Muslim lawyer of the nation, and her, a dazzling socialite of the Bombay High Society. The marriage triggered a bitter war between the Parsee-controlled press and Muslim-owned Urdu newspapers. While Parsee papers like Kaiser-e-Hind and Jam-e-Jamshed called April 19, 1918, ‘Black Friday’ and accused the Muslim community of conspiring to convert Rattanbai, progressive Muslim newspapers such as Paisa Akhbar hit back strongly, defending the marriage and hailing Jinnah as the most deserving groom.

Ruttie began accompanying her husband to all important political meetings and engagements after their marriage. She soon became the only politically active wife of any top Indian leader of that time, actively participating in protests against Governor Willingdon’s memorial and the banishment of BG Horniman. She was also offered the post of vice-president of the All India Trade Union Congress, which she declined. A fierce anti-British nationalist and an eloquent trendsetter, Ruttie was admired and envied by many.

Unfortunately, their marriage was doomed from the very beginning. Ruttie suffered complete social ostracism from the powerful Parsi Panchayat and was cut off from her parents. This isolation was intensified by Jinnah’s emotional detachment and his overwhelming obsession with Muslim politics, which left her increasingly lonely and depressed. As his bitter rivalry with Mahatma Gandhi triggered a major exclusion of supporters from the Muslim League and his political career seemed to be in ruins, Jinnah withdrew completely into himself.

Unable to cope with her husband’s increasing estrangement, Ruttie, allegedly, overdosed on sleeping pills and passed away on her 29th birthday in February 1929. A devastated Jinnah never quite fully recovered from his beloved’s death. He never remarried after her death, and would visit Ruttie’s grave every Thursday afternoon until he left India.

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