The Nimatullahi Sayyids of Taft: A Study of the Evolution of a Late Medieval Iranian Sufi Tariqah

Thesis Type:

PhD dissertation

Abstract:

During the late medieval period, the Ni`matullāhī tarīqah, founded by Shāh Ni`matullāh Walī (d.834/1431), became one of the most widespread Sufi orders in Iran. The present study traces that order's evolution during its formative years, from the late 8th/14th century to the end of the Safawīd period, when Shāh Ni`matullāh's descendents relinquished their role as hereditary leaders of the order. In particular, it focuses on the process of the tarīqah's institutionalization, and how it evolved from a small circle of disciples into a specialized and hierarchically organized entity with its own distinct practices, beliefs, and institutions. It suggests that this was a gradual and ongoing process, and that the tarīqah underwent significant changes in the centuries following Shāh Ni`matullāh's death, in terms of doctrine, organization, and even sectarian affiliation.

Section One discusses the various biographies of Shāh Ni`matullāh and how those sources reflect the attempts of that shaykh's successors to institutionalize his charisma. In particular, it demonstrates how the later shaykhs of the tarīqah were able to mold and redefine the order's past, adapting it to their own ends. Section Two explores various factors that are indicative of the tarīqah's development during the 9th/15th century. These include the crystallization of a distinct initiatic chain, based on the principle of hereditary succession, around Shāh Ni`matullāh's descendents in the region of Yazd; the expansion of the tarīqah's network of followers and their integration into the Ni`matullāhī biographical tradition; the development of distinctive Ni`matullāhī beliefs and practices, and the manner in which those beliefs were articulated over time by the leadership of the order. Section Three examines the dynamics of the Ni`matullāhī relationship with the Safawīds, accounting for their comparative success at a time when organized Sufism as a whole was decline in Iran. In particular, it focuses on the intense politicization of the leadership of the order during the 10th/16th century and on their gradual adoption of Ithnā-`Asharī Shiism, the state religion of the Safawīds.

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