Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Walī

Shāh Nimatullāh or Shāh Ni'matullāh Wali, (Persian: شاه نعمت‌الله ولی‎ Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Valī), also spelled as Ne'matollah, Ni'matallah and Ni'mat Allāh, was a Persian Sufi Master and poet from the 14th and 15th centuries. He is revered by Sunni as a saint and by the Sufi order Nimatullahi who consider him their founder.

Born in Aleppo, Syria (or around Kerman, Iran according to some historians), Ni’mattullah traced his own descent from the seventh Imam Musa al-Kadhim, in both a poetic work as well as an epistle reproduced by his biographers ‘Abd al-Razzāq Kirmānī and ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Wā’iẓ. Ni'matullah travelled widely through the Muslim world, learning the philosophies of many masters, but not finding a personal teacher he could dedicate himself to. Ni'matullah studied the writings of the great Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn ʿArabī.

Ni'matullah met Abdollah Yafe'i Qadri in Mecca and subsequently became his disciple. He studied intensely with his teacher for seven years. Spiritually transformed, he was sent out for a second round of travels; this time as a realized teacher.

Ni'matullah temporarily resided near Samarkand, along the great Central Asian Silk Road. It was here that he met the conqueror Tamerlane, but in order to avoid conflict, Ni'matullah soon left and eventually settled in the Baloch region of Kerman. His shrine is in nearby Mahan.

By the time Ni'matullah died, his fame had spread throughout Persia and India, (Though his presence is not much noted in India) and it is said he initiated hundreds of thousands of followers in the path now known by his name.

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