Awan (tribe): Difference between revisions

Awan (Urdu: اعوان) is a tribe living predominantly in the northern, central, and western parts of Pakistani Punjab, with thesignificant majoritynumbers beingalso present in PakistanKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, and to a minoritylesser extent in IndiaSindh and Pakistani Balochistan. They can also be found in Afghanistan. The Awans are descended from Ali's sons, Abbas ibn Ali and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah.

It is stated in the Imperial Gazetteer of India that “They are essentially a tribe of the Salt Range, where they once held independent possessions of very considerable extent, and in the western and central portions of which they are still the dominant race.”^[1] While writing about the Chiefs of Punjab, Sir Lepel Henry Griffin states in his book entitled, “The Panjab Chiefs:^[2] the most authentic book on the subject that;^[3] “All branches of the tribe (Awans) are unanimous in stating that they originally came from neighourhood of Ghazni to modren day Pkistan, and all trace their genealogy to Hasrat Ali the son-in-law of the Prophet. Kutab Shah, who came from Ghazni with Sultan Mahmud, was the common ancestor of the Awans.It was only in the Rawalpindi, Jhelam and Shahpur districts that they became of any political importance. In Shahpur District the Awans held the hilly country to the north west, Jalar, Naoshera (Naushera) and Sukesar, where the head of the tribe still resides.”^[4] Jamal J. Elias notes, however, that the Awans themselves claim to be a caste ofare Arab origin, adescended claimfrom Ali ibn Abu Talib and that theythe useclaim of Arab descent togives commandthem "high status in the Indian Muslim environment".^[5] The Gazetteer of the Jhelam District states that the claim of foreign origin is a "fable" and that "Arabian ancestry is a favourite fiction".^[6]

Christophe Jaffrelot says:

The Awan deserve close attention, because of their historical importance and, above all, because they settled in the west, right up to the edge of Baluchi and Pashtun territory. Legend has it that their origins go back to Imam Ali and his second wife, Hanafiya. Historians describe them as valiant warriors and farmers who imposed their supremacy on the Janjua in part of the Salt Range and established large colonies all along the Indus to Sind, and a densely populated center not far from Lahore.^[7]

Department of Genetics of Hazara University, Pakistan, Department of Anthropology of University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA and Center for Human Genetics of Hazara University, Pakistan conducted different studies in which hypervariable segment I (HVSI) from

mtDNA was analyzed to establish the genetic lineage of the populations living in Northern Pakistan. A three-cytosine deletion (CCC) at position 16191-16193 was clearly observed in the ethnic Awan population which suggests that Awans are genetically very closely related to Sayeds and thus have an Arab origin.^[8]

Department of Genetics of Hazara University, Pakistan, Department of Anthropology of University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA and Center for Human Genetics of Hazara University, Pakistan conducted different studies in which hypervariable segment I (HVSI) from

mtDNA was analyzed to establish the genetic lineage of the populations living in Northern Pakistan. A three-cytosine deletion (CCC) at position 16191-16193 was clearly observed in the ethnic Awan population which suggests that Awans are genetically very closely related to Sayeds and thus have an Arab origin.^[9]

• Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud (1014 – 1034 CE) was the first Muslim Ruler of India.
• Hadhrat Sultan Bahu – A Sufi mystic, poet, scholar and founder of mystic tradition known as Sarwari Qadiri.^[10]
• Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi (1906–1981) known as Shaykh-ul-Islam was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, religious leader and politician.^[11]
• Wasif Ali Wasif (15 January 1929 – 18 January 1993) was a teacher, writer, poet and wali / sufi from Pakistan.^[12]
• Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan – Former Nawab of Kalabagh, Chief of the Awan tribe and Governor of West Pakistan from 1960 to 1966.^[13]
• Air Marshal Nur Khan – Commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Air Force, 1965–69, Governor of West Pakistan, 1969–70, and recipient of the Hilal-i-Jurat, the second-highest military award of Pakistan.^[14]
• Mir Sultan Khan – A chess master also believed by some to be the greatest natural chess player of modern times.^[15]
• Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi – Urdu poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist, short story author, recipient of the Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the third-highest civil award of Pakistan.^[16]
• Major Muhammad Akram (Urdu: محمد اکرم; c. 4 April 1938 – 5 December 1971) who was cited with the Nishan-e-Haider. ^[17]
• Sher Shah Awan VC only Punjabi Muslim (14 February 1917 – 20 January 1945) who received the Victoria Cross.^[18]

• Tajammul Hussain Malik only brigadier, who fought the 1971 War in East Pakistan to have been promoted to the rank of major general.^[19]
• Air Commodore Abdus Sattar Alvi who shot down the Israeli Air Force's Mirage III in Syria(Sitara-e-Jurat).
• Babar Iftikhar is a Pakistani military officer, DG.(ISPR) holding a two-star general rank in the Pakistan Army.^[20]

• Khadim Hussain Rizvi – A Pakistani Islamic scholar and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.^[21]
• Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan – Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the mystic tradition known as Naqshbandia Owaisiah.^[22]
• Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi – Islamic scholar, jurist and muhaddith.^[23]
• Subedar Abdul Khaliq (March 1933 – 10 March 1988), who won 36 international gold medals.
• Dilip Kumar – An actor in Hindi cinema.^[24]

• Tribes and clans of the Pothohar Plateau
• Ahmed Gul Khel
• Awan Patti

• Qadeer, Mohammad (22 November 2006). Pakistan - Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation. Taylor & Francis. p. 71. ISBN 1134186177.