It was pre-partition India. A murder case, which was very clearly against the defendant, had come up in a court of law, the counsel representing the defendant being Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

As the proceedings continued, it seemed more and more inevitable that the murderer would receive his due punishment. Mr. Jinnah, however, was supremely confident. It seemed as if he was taking no interest in the court proceedings, so much so that the defendant and his supporters began to doubt the counsel’s intentions. It appeared to them that something had taken Mr. Jinnah’s mind off the case, and he was going to let their man hang. Mr. Jinnah, for his part, kept on reassuring them that everything would be all right.

Finally the culprit was sentenced to death. Still Mr. Jinnah did not lose his confidence. The hour and date of execution were fixed. Mr. Jinnah remained unperturbed, right up to the time that his client was due to be hanged.

When the death hour came, Mr. Jinnah went to the hanging room in his barrister’s gown. Quietly, he watched the proceedings. When the final moment came and the hangman put the noose around the culprit’s neck, Mr. Jinnah sprang to his feet: “Stop!” he commanded the hangman. “If you do anything further, I will see to it that you are hanged!”

Everyone was flabbergasted, “The words in the judgement,” Mr. Jinnah said, “are: ‘He shall be hanged by the neck.’ The noose has been tied round his neck. This action has been carried out now, nothing further can be done.”

Following this incident, a law was passed stating that the words of the death-sentence, instead of just: “He shall be hanged by the neck;” should be: “He shall be hanged by the neck until he is dead.”

Mr. Jinnah can be said to have split hairs about the phrasing of the judgement. Hair-splitting of this nature often comes in useful in this world. It enables one in such cases to get off scot-free; it helps one to regain lost status in life. By splitting hairs, one can always prove oneself in the right, and be able to escape from tight corners. But this is only true of the life of this world. Hair-splitting will be of no use in the hereafter; for in the next world, decisions will be taken on the basis of reality, not on the basis of mere words. □