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Awan (اعوان, Punjabi Gurmukhi ਆਵਾਨ), is a South Asian Zamindar tribe, putatively of Arab origin, living predominantly in northern, central, and western parts of Punjab, Pakistan, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Kashmir regions. The Awans subscribe to the belief that they are the descendants of the fourth Caliph, Ali, and as such, a number adopt the title, Alvi.

Origins
There are different theories pertaining to the origin of the Awans:

Arab origin
The Awan historiographers    maintain that the Awans are descended from an individual named Qutb Shah, who originally resided in Herat, served in the army of Mahmud of Ghazni, and was a Hashemite descendant of the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali (but by a wife other than the Prophet's daughter, Fatimah ). As Sir Lepel Henry Griffin states:

"All branches of the tribe are unanimous in stating that they originally came from the neighbourhood of Ghazni to India, 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 is asserted that Qutb Shah and six of his sons accompanied and assisted Mahmud in his early eleventh century conquests of what today forms parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. It is claimed that in recognition of their services and valour, Mahmud bestowed upon Qutb Shah and his sons (who, according to tribal traditions, settled primarily in the Salt Range) the title of Awan, meaning "helper".

Tribal history holds that Qutb Shah and his sons married local women who converted to Islam from Hinduism. Qutb Shah’s sons are said to have settled in different regions of the Punjab and to a lesser extent, what now constitutes parts of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa; Gauhar Shah or Gorrara, settled near Sakesar, Kalan Shah or Kalgan, settled in Kalabagh, Chauhan colonized the hills close to the Indus, Mohammad Shah or Khokhar, settled by the Chenab, and Tori ‏and Jhajh settled in Tirah. Their descendants not only came to heavily populate these regions, but a number of Awan sub-clans that trace their origins to these six individuals, give their names to various localities such as Golera in Rawalpindi, Khewra in Jhelum, Banjara in Sialkot, Jand in Attock, and Dhudial in Chakwal. Some of Qutb Shah’s sons are supposed to have assumed names that reflected the Hindu heritage of their mothers and the Awan sub-clans that trace their origins to these particular individuals, bear the names of their eponyms.

Amongst those who support the Awan claim to Arab ancestry, are H. A. Rose, Malik Fazal Dad Khan and Sabiha Shaheen. Although Rose was more cautious in assigning an Arab origin to the Awans, he was willing to concede that the tribe may well be Alvi Sayyids, who having sought refuge in Sindh from the Abbasids, allied themselves to Sabuktagin and assisted him in his Indian adventure, for which he bestowed the title of Awan on them (Rose considering it plausible that the name of the Awan tribe was derived from the word 'Ahwan', meaning "helper". And although the Ferozsons Urdu-English Dictionary lists the Awans as a Rajput clan, it does state that the title of the tribe is of Arabic origin, being the plural of the word 'aun', and defining "Awan" as "helpers" ). Making reference to W.S. Talbot's assessment of the Awans, Rose also commented:

"But in the best available account of the tribe, the Awans are indeed said to be of Arabian origin and descendants of Qutb Shah."

Malik Fazal Dad Khan supports the traditional account of the Awans' origins, but with some modifications. He considers the Awans to be of Arabian origin and traces their lineage to Ali, but according to him, Abdullah Rasul Mirza was the remote ancestor of the Awans; in the eighth century, he was made a commander of the army of Ghaur by Caliph Haroon-ur-Rasheed, the title of Awan being conferred upon him, and his descendants consequently being called Awans. Sabiha Shaheen (who addressed this issue as part of her MA Thesis) deems this theory tenable. Furthermore, she states that Qutb Shah fled to the Subcontinent along with a small group of people due to Mongol attacks and joined the court of Iltutmish. The majority of his descendants came to refer to themselves as Qutb Shahi Awans

Indigenous origin
However, there are those who attribute an indigenous origin to the Awan tribe; these include Alexander Cunningham, Harikishan Kaul, and Professor Ahmed Hasan Dani. Alexander Cunningham looked upon the Awans as a Rajput clan,. He writes, " According to the Emperor Babar the Jud and the Janjuha were "two races descended from the same father, " who from old times had been rulers of the hills between Nilab and Bhera, that is, of the salt range. "On one-half of the hill lived the Jud, and on the other half the Janjua." The Awans now occupy western half of these hills towards Nilab, and from all I could learn, they would appear to have been settled there for many centuries. They must therefore be the Jud of Baber's memoirs, for Jud was not the true name of the people, but was applied to them as the inhabitants of Mt' Sakeswar, which was called Jud by the Muhammadans on account of fancied resemblance to Mt. Jud, or Ararat in Armenia". However he accepts that,"In the total absence of all written records, I have almost nothing to offer in favour of this identification, except its great probability." According to Robert George Thomson, "General Cunningham's argument leads him to class the Awans as Rajputs and cousins of the Janjuas, and to represent them also as residents of three thousand years standing, this is almost certainly erroneous.

Kaul was of the opinion that the tribe was of either Jat or Rajput origin, pointing to the fact that in Sanskrit, the term Awan means "defender" or "protector" and asserting that this title was awarded by surrounding tribes due to the Awans successfully defending their strongholds against aggression. However it is also stated in Census of India, 1901, that "In the Salt-range Tract, however, the higher Rajput tribes, such as Janjua, are carefully excluded; and Jat means any Muhammadan cultivator of Hindu origin who is not an Awan, Gakkhar, Pathan, Saiyad."

Dani claimed that following the spread of Islam in the region where the Awans predominated, the tribe made a conscious decision to associate itself with a Semitic past, and hence Awans came to refer to themselves as “Qutub Shahis.” Citing Kaul's conclusions, James Wikeley said of the Awans that:

"After the Muhammadan invasions, they seem to have been converted by Syad Kutb Shah, after which the Awans began to call themselves Kutb Shahi, i.e., the followers of Kutb Shah."

Other theories
Arthur Brandreth believed the Awans to be remnants of Bactrian Greeks. Robert George Thomson writes that, "Mr. Arthur Brandreth thinks that they may be descended from Bactrian Greeks. But Mr. Lepel Griffin considers that all real Greeks would have refused to stay in the Panjab.

History
The Awans have a strong martial tradition; as Christophe Jaffrelot states:

"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 centre not far from Lahore."

According to Denzil Ibbetson, the Awans may well have accompanied the forces of Babur, and the Awans of Jalandhar, who claimed to have shifted from the Salt Range at the behest of one of the early Emperors of Delhi, were particularly notable for being in the imperial service at Delhi.

The Awans were amongst those the British considered to be "martial races" and as such, formed an important part of the British Indian Army. In particular, the Awans formed part of the core Muslim group recruited by the British during the First and Second World Wars.

With reference to the British Raj's recruitment policies in the Punjab, vis-à-vis the British Indian Army, Professor Tan Tai Yong remarks:

"The choice of Muslims was not merely one of physical suitability. As in the case of the Sikhs, recruiting authorities showed a clear bias in favour of the dominant landowning tribes of the region, and recruitment of Punjabi Muslims was limited to those who belonged to tribes of high social standing or reputation - the 'blood proud' and once politically dominant aristocracy of the tract. Consequentially, socially dominant Muslim tribes such as the Gakkhars, Janjuas and Awans, and a few Rajput tribes, concentrated in the Rawalpindi and Jhelum districts in the northern Salt Range tract in the Punjab, accounted for more than ninety per cent of Punjabi Muslim recruits."

According to Philip Edward Jones:

"The Awan Tribe is perhaps the most heavily recruited tribe for the Pakistan Army."

On a rural level, Awans belong to the Zamindar or landowning class, and many Awan families to this day live on and cultivate land, which their ancestors have held for centuries. They often carry titles typical to Punjabis who own tracts of ancestral land such as Malik, Chaudhry and Khan. The modern surname system often results in members of the same family with different surnames, some choosing their position as a surname i.e. Malik or Chaudhry, and some choosing their tribal name of Awan.

Though the origins of the Awans may be a matter of some debate, it has long been recognised that the composition of the tribe is wholly Muslim. The most extensive study of the tribe was conducted during the era of the British Raj, and as a result of census data collated during this period, the Awan tribe was invariably classified as being entirely Muslim. In the opening to his account of the Awan tribe, H. A. Rose comments:

"The Awans are an important tribe, exclusively Muhammadan."

Similarly, John Henry Hutton has said of the Awans:

"They are exclusively Muslim and probably the descendants of some of the earlier Muslim invaders of the tenth century or earlier."

Geographical distribution
The bulk of the Awan tribe is to be found in the Punjab (Pakistan). Its population is concentrated in the districts of Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Sargodha, Khushab (particularly the Soon Valley), Mianwali (Awan clans residing here are believed to have been almost the sole occupants of the Mianwali Salt Range Tract for over six hundred years ), Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal and Layyah, and is also scattered throughout the rest of Punjab.

Tracts in regions such as Attock, Jhelum and Mianwali are so heavily populated by Awans, that they have long been referred to as Awankari. Pre-Partition, an Awankari existed in Jalandhar and an Awan bara in Hoshiarpur. Awankari is also a dialect of Punjabi. Though these areas are their ancestral homelands and many own farms and other property there, numerous Awans live in the major cities of Pakistan such as Lahore (where a section of the Awan tribe has established a settlement, aptly named Awan Town), Islamabad, and Karachi.

The Awan tribe is also to be found in great numbers in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, particularly in the Hazara Division, Peshawar valley and the districts of Nowshera, Kohat, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Bannu, Swat, and Mardan. A smaller portion of the tribe resides in Azad Kashmir, and to a lesser extent is also present in the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. In addition, Awans can also be found in Afghanistan and some parts of India.

Notable Awans
Many Awans have played, and continue to play, prominent roles in areas as varied as politics, the armed forces, academia, literature, and sport. These include figures such as:


 * Malik Amir Mohammad Khan (The Nawab of Kalabagh, Governor of West Pakistan, 1960–66)
 * Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Pakistan) and a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora. Grandson of Malik Amir Mohammad Khan)
 * Sumaira Malik (Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. During the tenure of former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, headed the Ministry of Women Development and Ministry of Youth Affairs. Granddaughter of Malik Amir Mohammad Khan, and niece of the former President of Pakistan, Farooq Leghari)
 * 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, Pakistan’s second highest military award. A close relative of Malik Amir Mohammad Khan)
 * Malik Meraj Khalid (Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, Speaker of the National Assembly, Chief Minister of Punjab, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, and Rector of the International Islamic University Islamabad)
 * Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan (Senior lawyer of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and prominent leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, former Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and recipient of one of Pakistan’s highest civilian honours, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz)
 * Ghulam Farooq Awan (Lawyer, former Additional Attorney General of Pakistan, and appointed by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. Brother of Babar Awan)
 * Firdous Ashiq Awan (Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Former Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting)
 * Zain Awan (Indian journalist. Currently Asia and Australasia correspondent for Al Jazeera English)
 * Dr. Akil N. Awan (British academic and the current RCUK Fellow in the ‘Contemporary History of Faith, Power and Terror’ and Lecturer in both International Terrorism and Contemporary Islam in the Department of History and the Department of Politics and International Relations, at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL))
 * Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (Former chairman of Pakistan Ordnance Factories, and former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills. Recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s second highest civilian award, and the highest medal award that can be given to those who have attained the rank of Lieutenant General)
 * Major General Ameer Faisal Alavi (First General Officer Commanding of the elite Special Service Group of the Pakistan Army)
 * Lance Naik Sher Shah (VC) Awan (Recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest recognition for valour “in the face of the enemy” that was awarded to British Empire personnel)
 * Subedar Hajji Fateh Khan Awan (Recipient of the Indian Order of Merit and the Italy Star)
 * Sultan Bahu (Sufi poet-saint. Founded the Sarwari Qadiri Sufi order)
 * Maulana Ameer Mohammad Akram Awan (Famed Sufi, Shaikh of the Naqshbandia Owaisiah Order, mufassir, philosopher and reformist, Dean of the Siqarah Education System, and head of a welfare organisation, the Al-Falah Foundation)
 * Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi (Renowned author, poet and journalist. Founded, published and edited the prestigious literary journal Funoon, served as Secretary of the Progressive Writers Movement and was a recipient of the President’s Pride of Performance, the Pakistan Academy of Letters Lifetime Achievement award, as well as the Sitara-i-Imtiaz for Literature)
 * Dr. Naheed Qasimi (Writer and literary critic. Daughter of Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi)
 * Dr. Rafiq Anjum Awan (Gojri poet, scholar and researcher. Recipient of the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages Best Book Award in 1995 and 2007)
 * Saadat Awan (Pakistani American musician and vocalist, member of The Cassettes and the Metropolitan band)
 * Samina Awan (British Pakistani actress. Nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her starring role in Love + Hate)
 * Mohammad Akram (Former Pakistani international cricketer)
 * Akhtar Ayub (Pakistani first-class cricketer, who was also a member of the Pakistan U-19 cricket team that won the 2006 U/19 Cricket World Cup)
 * Imran Awan (International cricketer of Pakistani origin, who has represented the United States national cricket team)
 * Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad (Aristocrat and eminent legal scholar of the Qur'an, Hadith, and the Hanafi school of Islamic law)
 * Qazi Mazhar Qayyum (Raees-Azam Naushera. Eldest son of Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad. Renowned Hakeem, who wielded considerable political influence in the Punjab, prior to and following creation of Pakistan)
 * Khan Sahib Qazi Zafar Hussain (Youngest son of Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad and brother of Qazi Mazhar Qayyum. Awarded the title of Khan Sahib by the British Crown)
 * Lieutenant Colonel Qazi Altaf Hussain (Eldest son of Qazi Zafar Hussain. Served in the 11th Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force) Regiment, and former Commandant of the Zhob Militia)