Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi traces its roots through a lineage of successive Sufi Masters extending back to the Holy Prophet Mohammad, Amir-al Mo'menin Ali (peace be upon him) and Oveys Gharani (also written as Uways al-Qarani), who lived in Yemen at the time of the Holy Prophet of Islam. Amir al-Mo'menin, also known as Hazrat Ali, represents the essence of the teachings of the School of Islamic Sufism. He was not only the closest companion of the Holy Prophet, but had also received and cognized the teachings of the Holy Prophet inwardly. Hazrat Oveys, on the other hand, had received the teachings of Islam inwardly through his heart and lived by the principles taught by him although he had never physically met the Holy Prophet.
At times the Prophet would say of him, "I feel the breath of the Merciful, coming to me from Yemen." Shortly before the Prophet passed from this life, he directed Omar (second Caliph) and Hazrat Ali (the first Imam of the Shi'a) to take his Cloak to Hazrat Oveys. According to Hujwiri1, Attar Niyshabpouri2 and Sheikh Mohammad Ghader Bagheri3, the first recipient of Mohammad’s Cloak was Oveys Gharani.
In so doing, the Prophet confirmed the method of heart to heart communication through which Hazrat Oveys had received the essence of Islam. The holy cloak is originally known to have been passed for generations from the Prophet Abraham to the Prophet Mohammad, then to Oveys Gharani and other enlightened teachers thereafter. In the famous book of poetry, "Masnavi", by Jalaleddin Rumi, the following is said by the Prophet Mohammad about Oveys Gharani:
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The Prophet Mohammad says that the breeze brings O’men!
The divine perfume from Yemen.
The scent of Ramin comes from Veys
The fragrance of God from Oveys.
Oveys’ heavenly perfume from God,
Overjoyed the heart of the Prophet of God.
Forsaking his mortal being willingly
That earthly (Oveys) become heavenly.4
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The method of the passing of the Cloak represents two significant elements in the teachings of the Holy Prophet which constitute the method of instruction of the School of Islamic Sufism--cognition must take place inwardly, and cognition must be confirmed--as it was in the case of Hazrat Oveys, and Amir al-Mo'menin.
Since that time, the Cloak and the method of receiving knowledge through the heart, symbolizing the highest level of Divine Illumination, and conferring honor, recognition and respect on the recipient, has been handed down through an unbroken succession of Sufi Masters. This significant act creates the only hierarchy within the School of Islamic Sufism. The designated Sufi Master, called the Pir, is the essence of the Sufi Way.
The present Pir, Molana Salaheddin Ali Nader Angha, was officially appointed as the forty-second Sufi Master in an unbroken chain of transmission on September 4, 1970, when the Holy Cloak of the Prophet was bestowed upon him by his father.
Hazrat Shah Maghsoud in Hamaseh Hayat (Epic of Life) states:
"The Cloak of Oveyssi Faghr* we hold, and we announce,
The Faghr status we manifest is that utter richness"
* Faghr - poverty: reaching a state of abundant knowledge.
The son, grandson, and great-grandson of previous Pirs, Hazrat Pir's spiritual training naturally began at birth. Hazrat Pir has written more than fifty works in prose and poetry. He continues his great-grandfather's tradition of presenting the ancient truth of Sufism into scientific language.
1 Hujwiri , Kashf al-Mahjub, (Tehran, Tahoori Publication, 1979)
2 Attar, Sheikh Farid al-din, Tazkeret al-Ulia, (Tehran, Amir Kabir Publication, 1964)
3 Baghiri Namini, Sheikh Mohammaad Ghadeer, Aghtab Oveyssi, (Tehran, Amin Pubication. 1973)
4 Jalaledin Rumi, Massnavi, (Persian edition, 1925, Sepehr Publication) p. 716, line 1826
Genealogy of Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi
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The Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBH)
Amir-al-Mo'menin Ali (PBH)
1- Hazrat Oveys Qarani*
2- Hazrat Salman Farsi
3- Hazrat Habib-ibn Salim Ra'i
4- Hazrat Soltan Ebrahim Adham
5- Hazrat Abu Ali Shaqiq al-Balkhi
6- Hazrat Sheikh Abu Torab Nakhshabi
7- Hazrat Sheikh Abi Amr al-Istakhri
8- Hazrat Abu Ja'far Hazza
9- Hazrat Sheikh Kabir Abu Abdollah Mohammad-ibn Khafif Shirazi
10- Hazrat Sheikh Hossein Akkar
11- Hazrat Sheikh Morshed Abu-Isshaq Shahriar Kazerouni
12- Hazrat Khatib Abolfath Abdolkarim
13- Hazrat Ali-ibn Hassan Basri
14- Hazrat Serajeddin Abolfath Mahmoud-ibn Mahmoudi Sabouni Beyzavi
15- Hazrat Sheikh Abu Abdollah Rouzbehan Baghli Shirazi
16- Hazrat Sheikh Najmeddin Tamat-al Kobra Khivaghi
17- Hazrat Sheikh Ali Lala Ghaznavi
18- Hazrat Sheikh Ahmad Zaker Jowzeghani
19- Hazrat Noureddin Abdolrahman Esfarayeni
20- Hazrat Sheikh Alaoddowleh Semnani
21- Hazrat Mahmoud Mazdaghani
22- Hazrat Amir Seyyed Ali Hamedani
23- Hazrat Sheikh Ahmad Khatlani
24- Hazrat Seyyed Mohammad abdollah Ghatifi al-Hasavi Nourbakhsh
25- Hazrat Shah Ghassem Feyzbakhsh
26- Hazrat Hossein Abarghoui Janbakhsh
27- Hazrat Darvish Malek Ali Joveyni
28- Hazrat Darvish Ali Sodeyri
29- Hazrat Darvish Kamaleddin Sodeyri
30- Hazrat Darvish Mohammad Mozaheb Karandehi (Pir Palandouz)
31- Hazrat Mir Mohammad Mo'men Sodeyri Sabzevari
32- Hazrat Mir Mohammad Taghi Shahi Mashhadi
33- Hazrat Mir Mozaffar Ali
34- Hazrat Mir Mohammad Ali
35- Hazrat Seyyed Shamseddin Mohammad
36- Hazrat Seyyed Abdolvahab Naini
37- Hazrat Haj Mohammad Hassan Kouzekanani
38- Hazrat Agha Abdolghader Jahromi
39-Hazrat Jalaleddin Ali Mir Abolfazl Angha
40-Hazrat Mir Ghotbeddin Mohammad Angha
41-Hazrat Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha
42-Hazrat Salaheddin Ali Nader Angha
The conventional Arabic transliteration is Uways al-Qarani
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