third representative of Nisbat-e-Rasooli
Malik Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Awan (born 1920), popularly known as Khalifa e Sind (representative of sindh) 1920-2015 was a Sufi saint of the Naqshbandiya Aaliya Qadriya Siddiqiya Nisbat e Rasooli Silsila.
the title of khalifa e Sindh was given to him by his murshid or sipritual master pir Sufi siddiqe e Akbar at the time of pledging his alligence to him and was also bestowed with khilafat and permission of making mureeds or disciples although he made extremely few during his lifetime.
He was a descendant hazrat ghazi Abbas ibn Ali and hazrat aun qutb shah which made him a qutb shahi Awan his ancestors reigned from the mountain areas of Pakistan in the village of Lawa district Chakwal. He succeed his father Malik Ahmed Khan Awan at an early age as the wadera of the region.
Family and early life
He was born in Khanewal Punjab in 1920 to malkani gulam Fatima and father Malik Ahmed khan whose father Malik mohammad khan was the lambardar or tax collector appointed for the region by the British colonizers. Malik mohammad yaqoob khan resided there for four years as a child thereafter He studied in Jehlum while spending summer holidays with his mother. As he grew older his father migrated to khairpur sindh. He became the wadera of the region by listening to the problems of the poor unlike other zimmindars who were extremely ruthless and notorious for there practices like forced bondage and capital punishment and for this reason he became a sign of justice and equality through which he was admired by thousands. He had a passion for Sufism and traveled to the tombs of saints in Sindh, Balochistan specificly to the tomb of Shah noorani and numerios shrines in Punjab. His mother Malkani Ghulam Fatima was his primary inspiration.
Before partition both Malik Ahmed khan and gulam Fatima family lived in the same village. Fatima was brought up in a Hindu family the sect Chawala. She witnessed her father's cremation as a child and the process frighetend her so she ran to Malik mohammad khan's house who was extremely well known for his kindness. After taking refuge Islam started to have an influence on her and decided that she wanted to convert to Islam. The Maliks asked her to take the shahadat and become a muslim. After living with the Maliks she desired to marry and through consultation the Malik asked her to marry his son malik Ahmed khan and she agreed. She later defended her son and fort from enemies. Her piety and wisdom led others to call her a Sufi and also an excellent personality in later life which she could display her courage and intellect.
In 1917 his father malik Ahmed khan along with his family migrated to Khanewal at age 17. At that time the British allotted agricultural land on the condition of taking care of the colonizer's horses while being extremely young he was able to convince authorities to allocate fifty acres of land to him .during the four years he lived there was able to acquire an additional one hundred Acer's of agricultural land.
As he was young and welthy he often went to Multan which was closeby and a bigger city compared to khanewal to enjoy kafis and ghazals sung by both men and women in private quarters that were reserved for the well-off and influential. It was during this time he met mir ali nawaz khan talpur who was the king of khairpurs princely state and became good friends. On invitation of the mir Malik Ahmed khan went to khairpur present day sindh. The mir of khairpur offered land to the Malik and after convincing him he accepted and was given 1000 acers of land on installments where at the time there was no irragation system. Later he went back to khanewal and convinced his wife to finance him with her gold. She required him swear on the Quran not to waste the money on women. He convinced more than 100 families to follow him and promised them land in return of cultivating the land. He gave them more than half of his land after cultivation, retaining 420 acres for himself and made a village settelment on his land and was also buried there. He left behind four sons including Malik mohammad yaqoob khan and died a few years later.
As his father had passed away Malik mohammad yaqoob khan was now 16 and due to his mother malkani gulam Fatimas decision he put an end to his studies in Gujarat and jehlum and came back to khairpur. As he was going through his adolescents he made contacts with high ranking officials in agriculture, police, irragation to mention afew aswell as politicians through which he could help the poor and destute ganing much wide acclaim in the political scean.
Many people from different political parties came and asked him to join. On one such occasion who was a prominent member of the Pakistan people party (PPP) and owner came and asked Malik mohammad yaqoob khan to and become a member of the PPP so that he become more famous in the land for his justice through wrong means. Malik mohammad yaqoob khan refused making the two severe enemy's of each other. Due to the rivalry Malik mohammad yaqoob khan went to pir Jo goth and met with pir pagara Sayed Shah mardan Shah the second and became a member of his political party Pakistan Muslim league functional (PML-F) in return he would receive political support through which he could rival .