Awan (tribe)

Map of Pakistan showing district-wise demographic distribution of Awan population.

Awan (Urdu: اعوان) is a tribe living predominantly in the northern, central, and western parts of Pakistani Punjab, with significant numbers also present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, and to a lesser extent in Sindh 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.

History

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 modern day Pakistan, 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 that the Awans are Arab origin, descended from Ali ibn Abu Talib and that the claim of Arab descent gives them "high status in the Indian Muslim environment".^[5]

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.^[6]

People of the Awan community have a strong presence in the Pakistani Army^[7] and a notable martial tradition.^[8] 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".^[9]

Genetic studies on Awan

The diagram shows affinities among the mitochondrial DNA of seven distinct Pakistani ethnic groups. The relatedness of different tribes on the basis of HVSI sequence, based on the Cambridge reference sequence.

Centre for Human Genetics of Edith Cowan University, Australia, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Pakistan and Institute of General Genetics of Russian Academy of Science, Russia conducted different genetic studies on Awan and its neighbouring tribes, namely Khattar and Rajput, which concluded that Awans are genetically isolated, endogamous and very different from its neighbouring tribes.^[10]

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.^[11]

Family tree of Awans

This is a simplified family tree of Awans.

Notable people

Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan, former Nawab of Kalabagh, Chief of the Awan tribe, 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

• Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan – Former Nawab of Kalabagh, Chief of the Awan tribe and Governor of West Pakistan from 1960 to 1966.^[12]
• 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.^[13]
• Mir Sultan Khan – A chess master also believed by some to be the greatest natural chess player of modern times.^[14]
• 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.^[15]
• Sultan Bahu – A Sufi mystic, poet, scholar and founder of mystic tradition known as Sarwari Qadiri.^[16]
• Khadim Hussain Rizvi – A Pakistani Islamic scholar and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.^[17]
• Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan – Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the mystic tradition known as Naqshbandia Owaisiah.^[18]
• Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi – Islamic scholar, jurist and muhaddith.^[19]
• Dilip Kumar – An actor in Hindi cinema.^[20]

See also

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

References

Further reading

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

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