Shah Nimatullah

Infobox_Muslim scholars | notability = Muslim scholar| era = | color = #cef2e0 |
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| name = Shah Nematollah Vali| title= | birth = | death = | Maddhab = Sunni, Sufi, Nimatullahi | school tradition= | Ethnicity =
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influences =Ibn Arabi and Abd-Allah Yafe'i | influenced =|

Shah N'imatullah Vali (PerB|شاه نعمت الله ولی) was an Islamic scholar and a Sufi poet, from the 14th and 15th Centuries, C.E. Descended from the sixth Shi'ite Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Shah N'imatullah was the founder and Q'tub of the eponymous Sufi order.

Biography

Shah N'imatullah Vali (or Nimatullah Wali) was born to a Sufi family in Aleppo, Syria. He travelled widely through the Muslim world, learning the philosophies of many masters, but not at first finding a personal teacher he could dedicate himself to. During this time, he also studied the writings of the great Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn Arabi.

Shah N'imatullah finally met Shaykh Abdollah Yafe'i in Mecca and became his disciple. He studied intensely with his teacher for seven years until, spiritually transformed, he was sent out for a second round of travels, this time as a realized teacher.

He temporarily resided near Samarkand, along the great Central Asian Silk Road. It was here that he met the conqueror Tamerlane, but to avoid conflict with the worldly ruler, he soon left and eventually settled in the Persian region of Kerman. His shrine is located in Mahan, a village near Kerman.

When Shah N'imatullah died, his fame had spread throughout Persia and India, and it is said he initiated hundreds of thousands of followers. Today the Nimatullahi Sufi Order is one of the most important Sufi orders of Iran.

Poetry

Shah N'imatullah Vali has a left a Persian Language Diwan_(poetry).

Bibliography

* "Masters of the Path: A History of the Masters of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order" by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Khaniqahi Nimatullahi Publications, New York and London, 2nd Edition, 1993, ISBN 0933546033 and ISBN 978-0933546035

* "Kings of Love - The History and Poetry of the Ni'matullahi Sufi Order" by Nasrollah Pourjavady and Peter Lamborn Wilson, Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, Tehran, 1978, ISBN 0-87773-733-9 and ISBN 0-500-97351-2

External Links

* [http://www.nimatullahi.org/nimatullahi/nimatullah Shah N'imatullah's Biography on the Nimatullahi Sufi Order site]