Who Was Shah Nematollah Vali?
This question cannot be answered in a small website page and not everyone can answer the question easily. Possibly books are needed to describe his truly peaceful, charismatic, and noble in every sense character. However in order not to leave the question totally unanswered, the following is an attempt to describe him very briefly.
Shah Nematollah Wali (or Vali according to Persian pronunciation) was a great Arif, and Grand Master of Sufism of the 14th and 15th century (CE). He was in fact the person who lit the lamp of "gnosis" in a large part of the Muslim world, especially in Turkstan, Hindustan, and Iran.
Birth
The 19th ascendant of Shah Nematollah is the Prophet of Islam and thus he is generally called "Sey-yed". Shah was born in the month of Rajab of 730 or 731 (~1350 CE), but – because of the difference in historians' opinions – we don't know exactly where: in Syria or in Shiraz, Iran?.
Family
The parents and the descendents of Shah were all mystical and intellectual persons. His mother was Iranian from the region of Fars and his father was Arab, from Syria. His family was first in Halab, a city in Syria. Then they moved to Mecca, and eventually they took the way of Iran for staying in Shiraz.
Study
According to the historians he was very clever from the youngest ages of his life and started learning the Koran and its commentary in multiple languages such as Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. He had famous teachers like "Ruknud-din Shirazi", "Shams ud-din Maqi", "Seyed Jalal Kharazmi", "Qazi Azod ud-din Idji" , … He studied important books about Sufism like "Mersad ol Ebad" of "Najm ud-din Razi" and "Esharat-et Tanbihat" of "Avicenna", and "Fosous ol hekam" of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi. He knew by heart "Fosous ol Hekam" and he red multiples interpretations and commentary about it.
Sufism
After having finished his studies he started traveling in the World and visiting the Sufi Masters.
He stopped the search when he met a Master in a mosque in Mecca in Arabia. This Grand Master was "Sheikh Abdollah Yafei" who was an important Sufi, author of the books such as "Rozat ol Ryahin", "Dorro Nazim", "Nashr ol Mahasen", "Erchad"; etc, an important religious person and – from the point of view of Shah – the King of the « Walis » of his time. Shah became his disciple and began practicing the spiritual exercises for seven years lead by his master.
Spiritual Exercises
Shah spent seven years in Mecca for realizing the spiritual experiences. In this city Shah encountered "Gotb edin Razi". After having finished his exercises Shah went from Mecca to Egypt for meeting "Seyed Hossein Akhlati". He took the direction of Azerbaijan in Iran, where he met "Seyed Gasem Anvar". Then he went to Turkstan for spending 120 days alone in the mountain of Samargand and practicing certain spiritual exercises. He also carried on some other Quarantines in the Alvand Mountain in Hamedan and Damavand in the Alborz mountain chain.
Meetings and Marriage
Then Shah went to Karbala and from there he took the way of Khorasan; and visited Samargand and Hirat. In Samargand Shah got married. It is said he was 65 ( ?) years old when he married! In the same city he encountered "Timor Lang".
Then in 775 (795 ?) (~1375 or ~1415 CE), "Borhan ud-din Khalilollah" the son and the successor of Shah was born. Shah went with his family from Samargand to Hirat, to Meshed, and finally to Yazd. In this city he spent 5 years and built a Khanegah and received several important Sufis like "Mowlana Sharaf ud-din Ali Yazdi", "Khajeh Sainedin Ali Tarkeh Esfahani" and "Sheikh Shams ud-din Hafiz" the famous poet of Shiraz. Hafez stayed near Shah for 2 years and composed the very beautiful poetries about Shah and his Khanegah.
At last, Shah went to KohBanan in Mahan of Kerman and built a huge Sufism center. He traveled to Hind and to Shiraz. Shah accepted the request of King Ahmad from Dakan and sent his family to stay in Hind (India).
Death
The death of Shah Nematollah happened in the month of Rajab of 832 (~1452) when he was approximately 104 years old. His shrine is in Mahan. With Shah's series of successors in India, after his death Sufism left Iran for approximately 300 hundred years.
"Nematollahi order" in the World
The Sufi Order of "Nematollahi" which attributes itself to Shah Nematollah has been always the largest and the most popular Sufi Order in the World. The Sheikhs and the adepts of this Order came back to Iran in about the 12th century of Hejira (approximately 18th Century CE) for teaching and renewing sufism .
When considering the entire history of this order, the famous Sufi Masters who have managed this order have come from all different corners of the world : from Asia, Africa and Europe (e.g. Spain). This plurality has given a universal color to this order. The Sufi Masters of this order traveled in the world for inviting all people to Unity, Peace, and tolerance. They taught the way of spirituality to the human being. The Sheikhs and the Masters of this order consider every one to have the capacity to be the vicar of God on Earth. The differences of the skin's color, geographical origin, culture, language, etc., are not the important factors for the substantial evolution