Dr. Nahid Angha, an Uwaiysi Sufi scholar, author, lecturer and human rights activist, is the daughter of the prominent Persian Sufi master Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha of the Uwaiysi tariqa. Her mother, Mah Tal at Etemad Moghadan, was from a prominent Persian family and a descendant of Etemad Saltaneh, whose memoir stands as one of the most important historical books on the Ghajar Dynasty.
She pursued academic studies at the University of Tehran, Missouri State University and the University of Exeter, and earned doctoral degrees in Psychology and in Islamic Studies.
She studied Sufism under the guidance of her father Shah Maghsoud, and when in her twenties, became the first and the only woman assigned to teach and lead gatherings at her father’s khaniqah. She is the main translator and commentator of her father’s teachings and published works; and her book: Shah Maghsoud’s Life and Legacy is based on Shah Maghsoud’s autobiographical sketch he wrote especially for her.
Dr. Angha is a translator and commentator of the works of her father, Shah Maghsoud, and over twenty classical Islamic mystical texts, and numerous articles on Islam and Sufism including ‘Abdu‘llāh Ansāri of Hirat (Encyclopedia of Islam), ‘Abdu‘llāh Ansāri of Hirāt, Stations of the Sufi Path: The One Hundred Fields: Sad Maydān (first English translation), Nirvan, Ecstasy: The World of Sufi Poetry and Prayers, Principles of Sufism, and A Force Such as the World Has Never Known: Women Creating Change (co-authored).
Dr. Nahid Angha is the co-director and co-founder of the International Association of Sufism, founder of the International Sufi Women Organization, and the executive editor of Sufism: An Inquiry.
Through partnerships with humanitarian organizations, under Dr. Angha's initiative, IAS and SWO have expanded their charitable efforts to include care for children caught in refugee and migrant crises, providing basic medicine and clean water in refugee areas, educational scholarships, training local nurses on HIV, orphan care, health education, and supporting mobile health clinics in Africa. In California, SWO has contributed to HIV medical care management, free testing, and free syringes.
