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 had 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 had studied Sufism under the guidance of her father Shah Maghsoud and became the first and the only woman assigned to teach and lead gatherings at her father’s khaniqah, in her early twenties. 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 her father: Shah Maghsoud’s works as well as 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, the executive editor of Sufism: An Inquiry. She is the main representative of the IAS to the United Nations (DGC), the first Muslim woman inducted to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame Marin and Huffington Post named her as one of the 50 Powerful Women Religious Leaders to Celebrate on International Women’s Day.
She has created ongoing humanitarian works that include supporting clean water projects, medical services in refugee areas, educational scholarships, and grant awards assisting women-owned small businesses, together with the members of the Sufi Women Organization’s Council.
