Awan (

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

and ur, ) is a tribe living predominantly in the northern, central, and western parts of

Pakistani Punjab Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

, with significant numbers also present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

, and to a lesser extent in

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

and Balochistan.

History

Jamal J. Elias Jamal J. Elias is a scholar and professor of Religious Studies who currently serves as the Special Advisor to the Provost of Aga Khan University. He has written and lectured widely on the Qur'an, Sufism, poetry and modern society. Elias was born ...

notes that the Awans believe themselves to be of Arab origin, descended from Ali ibn Abu Talib and that the claim of Arab descent gives them "high status in the Indian Muslim environment".

Christophe Jaffrelot Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...

says: People of the Awan community have a strong presence in the Pakistani Army and a notable martial tradition. They were listed as an "agricultural tribe" by the British Raj in 1925, a term that was then synonymous with classification as a " martial race".

Notable people

Nawab of Kalabagh Malik Amir Mohammad khan

Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan Malik Amir Mohammad Khan (; 20 June 1910 – 26 November 1967) was the Nawab of Kalabagh and a prominent feudal lord, politician, the chief or sardar of the Awan tribe, and of his tribal estate Kalabagh, in Mianwali District of north west ...

– Former Nawab of Kalabagh, Chief of the Awan tribe and Governor of West Pakistan from 1960 to 1966. * 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. *

Mir Sultan Khan Sultan Khan ( Punjabi and ur, , 1903 – 25 April 1966; commonly referred to with honorifics as ''Mir Sultan Khan'' or ''Mir Malik Sultan Khan'') was a South Asian chess player, and later a citizen of Pakistan, who is thought to have been the ...

– A

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

also believed by some to be the greatest natural chess player of modern times. * Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi – Urdu poet, journalist,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

, dramatist, short story author, recipient of the Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the third-highest civil award of Pakistan. * Sultan Bahu – A

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

mystic, poet, scholar and founder of mystic tradition known as

Sarwari Qadiri The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...

. *

Khadim Hussain Rizvi Khadim Hussain Rizvi ( ur, ; 22 May 1966 – 19 November 2020) was a Pakistani Islamic author and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a political-religious organization founded in 2015, known to protest against any change to Pakistan's blasphe ...

– A Pakistani Islamic scholar and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. *

Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan ( ur, , ; born 31 December 1934 in Noorpur Sethi, British India – died 7 December 2017 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan) was an Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the Naqshbandia Owaisiah order of Sufism Sufi ...

– Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the mystic tradition known as Naqshbandia Owaisiah. *

Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi Hafiz Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi, spelled as Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi or Abdul Manan Wazirabadi ( ur, ; Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi, 1851 AD18 July 1916 AD, 1267 AH - 16 Ramzan 1334 AH) was a religious scholar, jurist, ''mufassir'' and muhaddith dur ...

– Islamic scholar,

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and muhaddith. * Dilip Kumar – An actor in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. * Babar Awan - Pakistani politician and lawyer

History

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading