Qutb Shah

Awn bin Yaʿlā al-ʿAlawī al-ʿAbbāsī (), also known by his spiritual title Qutb Shah (قطب شاه), was an 11th-century ʿAlid–ʿAbbāsid Sufi and scholar from Baghdad, Iraq.

He is noted in later genealogical literature as the maternal uncle of Abdul Qadir Gilani (470–561 AH / 1077–1166 CE) and as an ancestor of South Asian Awan (tribe) families.Kirmānī, Muḥammad Najaf (17th century). Khulāṣat al-Ansāb (in Persian). Hyderabad Manuscript.Jamal al-Layl, Yūsuf bin ʿAbd Allāh (17th century). al-Shajara al-Zakiyya fī Ansāb Banī Hāshim (in Arabic). Digital edition, Internet Archive / Shamela. pp. 599–610.

 Biography 
Born around 440 AH (c. 1048 CE) into a learned ʿAlawī–ʿAbbāsī household in Baghdad, Awn bin Yaʿlā was a descendant of Abu Yaʿlā Ḥamza bin Qāsim, a jurist from the Banū Hāshim. He pursued the religious sciences and spiritual training, becoming known for his devotion to Tasawwuf (Islamic mysticism). His epithet Qutb Shah is understood to denote his spiritual rank (maqām al-qutbiyya) rather than any kingship or military command.Mawsūʿat Zurārī Abī al-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās (in Arabic). al-Maktaba al-Dijitaliyya, 2005. pp. 314–317.

Awn is traditionally regarded as a spiritual follower and contemporary of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Ḥasanī, who later founded the Qadiriyya order.al-Kattānī, ʿAbd al-Ḥayy (1982). Fahras al-Fahāris wa-l-Athbāt (in Arabic). Vol. 1. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī. p. 211.

 Genealogy (Ansaab) 
Multiple Arabic and Persian genealogical sources record the lineage of Awn bin Yaʿlā with slight variations. The principal variants include:

Variant A (from Mawsūʿat Zurārī Abī al-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās)  
 قطب شاه : السيد عون بن يعلى بن حمزة بن القاسم بن علي بن حمزة بن الحسن بن عبیداللہ بن العباس بن علي بن أبي طالب  
— tracing his ancestry to al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (عليه السلام).

Variant B (from Khulāṣat al-Ansāb by Najaf Kirmānī)  
 عون بن يعلى بن أبي يعلى حمزة بن الطیار بن القاسم … إلى العباس بن علي بن أبي طالب  
This version also records the migration from Baghdad to the Indian subcontinent, connecting his descendants with several Awan (tribe) families in present-day Pakistan and India.

Variant C (from al-Shajara al-Zakiyya fī Ansāb Banī Hāshim) — which is quite similar to Variant A.

Pages 599–610 describe Awn bin Yaʿlā (Qutb Shah) among the descendants of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī, corroborated by older manuscripts referenced therein.

 Family and Kinship 
His wife was Sayyida ʿĀʾisha bint Sayyid ʿAbdullāh al-Sawmaʿī al-Ḥusaynī, the maternal aunt of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī.

His son was ʿAbdullāh Shāh Golrā, who is associated with the early shrine settlement at Golra Sharif (Islamabad, Pakistan) and a shrine in Soon Valley.

Through this connection, Awn is regarded as the maternal uncle of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, and his son ʿAbdullāh Shah as the Shaykh’s cousin.

 Sufi Role and Legacy 
Later tadhkira and shajara traditions describe Awn bin Yaʿlā as a spiritual rank (Qutb) recognized within early Qadiriyya circles in Baghdad. He is portrayed as an ascetic devoted to the remembrance of God, transmitting teachings that influenced the later Qadiriyya order.al-Samhūdī, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1910). Nūr al-ʿAyn fī Mawālīd Ahl Bayt Sayyid al-Mursalīn (in Arabic). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿrifa.

 Descendants 
Several prominent Sufi figures and Sayyids claim descent from Awn bin Yaʿlā (Qutb Shah):

 Sultan Bahoo — famed 17th-century Punjabi Sufi saint and poet.  
 Pir Sial — Sufi saint in Punjab.  
 Nausha Ganj Bakhsh — Sufi saint in Punjab.   
 Wasif Ali Wasif — Sufi saint in Punjab.

Additional notable descendants among the Awan (tribe) include those listed on the [Awan (tribe)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awan_(tribe)) Wikipedia page

 Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan – 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.
 Tajammul Hussain Malik, War Hero of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, held an impenetrable defence in the Battle of Hilli against a multiple times larger force, famously refused to surrender and attempted coup against the military dictatorship of the 1980s
 Mir Sultan Khan – A chess master also believed by some to be the greatest natural chess player of modern times.
 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.
 Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan – Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the mystic tradition known as Naqshbandia Owaisiah.
 Khadim Hussain Rizvi – A Pakistani Islamic scholar and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.
 Saad Hussain Rizvi, Pakistani far-right politician
 Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi – Islamic scholar, jurist and muhaddith.Ustad-e-Punjab (teacher of Punjab), in Urdu Language, by Maulana Majeed Sohadravi, Darussalam Pakistan/Muslim Publication, Lahore. page 41
 Dilip Kumar –Actor in Hindi cinema.
 Babar Awan – Pakistani politician and lawyer
 Malik Munawar Khan Awan, Pakistan army officer who fought for independence of Azad Hind against the British Raj and a decorated soldier awarded for gallantry for conquering areas of the Kashmir Valley in the Second Indo-Pakistani War
 Muhammad Akram , Pakistani martyr soldier who commanded an outnumbered regiment at Hilli, East Pakistan and was post-humously awarded the highest military honour of the country


His descendants are venerated throughout the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the Soon Valley Sakesar, Khyber Pakhtun Khaw and Golra Sharif regions of present-day Pakistan, where shrines attributed to his progeny remain important Sufi centers.

 Related pages 
 Abdul Qadir Gilani  
 Qadiriyya  
 Sayyid
 Awan

 References 

 Jamal al-Layl, Yūsuf bin ʿAbd Allāh (17th century). al-Shajara al-Zakiyya fī Ansāb Banī Hāshim (in Arabic). Digital edition, Internet Archive / Shamela. pp. 599–610.  
 Kirmānī, Muḥammad Najaf (17th century). Khulāṣat al-Ansāb (in Persian). Hyderabad Manuscript.  
 Mawsūʿat Zurārī Abī al-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās (in Arabic). al-Maktaba al-Dijitaliyya, 2005. pp. 162–164.  
 al-Kattānī, ʿAbd al-Ḥayy (1982). Fahras al-Fahāris wa-l-Athbāt (in Arabic). Vol. 1. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī. p. 211.  
 al-Samhūdī, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1910). Nūr al-ʿAyn fī Mawālīd Ahl Bayt Sayyid al-Mursalīn (in Arabic). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿrifa.