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Nahid Angha

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Nahid Angha
NationalityIranian-American
Occupation(s)Islamic scholar and leader
OrganizationInternational Association of Sufism

Nahid Angha is an Iranian-American Islamic scholar, author, psychologist, Sufi leader and women's right's activist.[1][2] She is the co-director and co-founder of the International Association of Sufism (IAS) and founder of the International Sufi Women Organization.[3][4]

Biography

Nahid is the eldest daughter of the 20th century Iranian Sufi master Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha (d.1980) leader of a Twelver Shi'a branch of the Kubrawiya-Uwaysi .[5][4][6] He introduced the Sufi order to the West where centers were eventually established in major cities throughout the US.[5] Her mother, Mah Talat Etemad Moghadam (d. 2012), was a descendant of Etemad Saltaneh[7] whose journals and memoirs remained as one of the important manuscripts on the Qajar Dynasty, Iran.[8]

Nahid and her husband, Ali Kianfar, a disciple of Nahid's father, founded their own International Association of Sufism in 1983.[9] Nahid claimed successorship of the tariqa from her father.[5] She maintains that she was her father's first student and the first woman permitted to teach in the Uwaysi tradition.[9]

This claim was contested by her brother, Nader Angha, who also claimed leadership and that he was dedicated as pir in 1970 by his father.[5] Nader's group MTO Shahmaghsoudi, or Shah Maghsoudi,[4] expelled Nahid and her husband and copyrighted the tariqa. Nahid challenged her brother's claims in court, asking for leadership of the group and ownership of its intellectual property. The court declined to rule on who was the legitimate leader of the order and MTO appealed.[5] MTO is significantly larger than Nahid's group.[5] Leadership disputes are not uncommon among Sufi and Shi'ite groups.[1]

The International Association of Sufism is based in San Rafael, California. The group seeks to facilitate "communication and cooperation" among different Sufi orders.[4] The membership of the group is predominantly American and practice of Islam is not mandated.[4][9]

She is also an author and translator,[9] and earned a doctorate in psychology.[10] The International Association of Sufism emphasizes Sufi psychology.[6]

Works

  • Ecstasy: The World of Sufi Poetry and Prayer
  • The Journey: Seyr Va Soluk
  • Sufism: Journey of the Lovers
  • Psalms of Gods by Moulana Shah Maghsoud and translated by Nahid Angha
  • Caravan: Biographies from the Sufism Symposia 1994-2014
  • Al-Momenon: The Faithful - Selected Biographies of Sufi Saints
  • Deliverance: Words from the Prophet
  • Principles of Sufism
  • Sufi Wisdom: The Collected Words of Sufi Master Nahid Angha
  • A Force Such as the World Has Never Known: Women Creating Change edited by Nahid Angha, Sharon Grace Mijares and Aliaa Rafea
  • Shah Maghsoud: Life and Legacy
  • Selections: Poems from Khayam, Rumi, Hafez, Moulana Shah Maghsoud edited by Nahid Angha
  • Stations of the Sufi Path: The One Hundred Fields (Sad Maydan) of Abdullah Ansari of Herat translated by Nahid Angha
  • A Meditation

References

  1. ^ a b Ernst, Carl W. (2017-10-30). It's Not Just Academic!: Essays on Sufism and Islamic Studies. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-5280-009-4.
  2. ^ Howe, Justine (2020-11-09). The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-25654-4.
  3. ^ "Nahid Angha". WISE Muslim Women. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  4. ^ a b c d e Takim, Liyakat Nathani. Shi'ism in America. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-8297-2.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Ennaji, Moha (2016-05-30). New Horizons of Muslim Diaspora in Europe and North America. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-55496-3.
  6. ^ a b Bazzano, Elliott; Hermansen, Marcia (2020-08-01). Varieties of American Sufism: Islam, Sufi Orders, and Authority in a Time of Transition. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-7792-3.
  7. ^ Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians, Volume 1. New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0.
  8. ^ Khatirat i Itimad-al-Saltanah. OCLC. OCLC 48978958. Retrieved 15 January 2017. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  9. ^ a b c d Spellman, Kathryn (2004-10-01). Religion and Nation: Iranian Local and Transnational Networks in Britain. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78238-940-8.
  10. ^ Drucker, Malka (2003). White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America. SkyLight Paths Publishing. ISBN 978-1-893361-64-5.
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