He was born on 14 May, 1907, in Haripur, British India, in the village of Rehana near Haripur Dt. of NWFP.He was a Pathan of the Tareen Tribe.He was the first child of the second wife of Mir Dad Khan Tareen who was a Resaldar-Major (senior-most non-commissioned rank). After passing school education he enrolled himself in Aligarh Muslim University in 1922 but did not continue, as he was admitted into Royal Mlitary Academy Sandhurst.
He was given an officer 's commission in the British Indian Army on 2 Feb 1928.he was promoted to Brigadier with the local rank of major general and to East Pakistan. He was made commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army on 17 jan 1951.
He served in the second cabinet of Muhammad Ali Bogra as Defence Minister.and was placed as Chief Marshal Law Administrator by Iskandar Mirza. Both Nawab Amir Mohammad Khan and Sandhurst trained Gen Wazid Ali Khan Burki were instrumental in Ayub Khan's rise to power, until today three families retain adjoining houses in Islamabad. Ayub deposed Mirza on 27 Oct 1958 in a bloodless coup , sending gen. Wazid Burki , Azam, and Sheikh in the middle of the night to pack Mirza off to exile in England which was welcomed by pakistanis since pakistan was having unstable political climate after Independence.
Ayub moved to have a constitution which was cvompleted in 1961. A fairly secular person by nature, Ayub's constitution reflected his personal views of politicians and the use of religion in politics.
in 1962, he pushed through a new constitution taht while it did give due respect t islam , it did not declare Islam the state religion of the country.
He also provided election for president which was analogous to the electoral college of the United States.
Ayub introduced Muslim Family Laws through an ordinance in March 1961, to abolish polygamy, the consent of the current wife was made mandatory instead of instantanieous Talak system.
he won in a Presidential election contesting with Fatima Jinnah by a margin of 64% of votes.
