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.

## 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.

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.

## 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).

## 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.
* 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;211.  
* al-Samhūdī, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1910). *Nūr al-ʿAyn fī Mawālīd Ahl Bayt Sayyid al-Mursalīn* (in Arabic). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿrifa.