Known by other Nimatullahi Gonabadi Sufis 1, as “Darvish Naser Ali”, Shaikh Asadolah Izadghoshasb was born in 1262 in Gholpayeghan, Iran.
His father, Mohammad Izadghoshasb, a rather wealthy person was a poet in his own right. His mother died when Shams was only five years old. He started school at the age of six. By the time he was eighteen, he had studied literature, writing, poetry, mathematics, philosophy, religion, and erfan, with famous teachers of his time 2.
At eighteen years of age, he moved to Isfahan, which at that time was the center of knowledge in Iran. In the six month that was there, he continued studying the same subjects with many Isfahani scholars 3. He briefly returned to Golpayeghan but then moved to Iraq for further studies. In the city of Kazemain he studied with Seyed Ibraheem Khorasany and Agha Meerza Ibrahim Solmasy. He studied Ganoonche, which is a medical text of that time with agha Seyed Moosa Tabeeb Hamedany. At Najaf he studied with Sheikh Mohammad Bagher Esthbanaty who gave him the name of “Shams Ul Hokama”. He then moved to Gonabad to study with Haj Molla Soltan Mohammad Soltanalishah.
After completing his studies, he returned to his birth city of Golpayeghan to teach, but he felt confined in that environment. He yearned to be in the company of the other scholars he studied with in Isfahan. In 1289, at the age of 27 he became a teacher at the Sadr school in Isfahan. There he met Nosrat 4, an eighteen-year-old female patient of his. He continued his career in education by attaining the role of principal of the school Hekmat, a boy’s school of grades 1-6. He also became a teacher at ADAB and Sadee high school.
Shams and Nosrat had four children named Mirza Mohammad (who died at a young age), Iran, Abdul-baghi and Sedigeh. He was an open-minded person; during a time when women did not go to school, he encouraged his daughters to attend school and study foreign languages. Sedigeh, his youngest daughter, graduated from Dansh Sara Moghadamati in Isfahan at 9th grade. Abdul-baghi, his youngest son studied at Gol Bahar high school in Isfahan and continued at the University of Tehran studying the French language.
At age 47 Shams went back to Ghonabad to become a Shaikh of the Nimatullahi order devishes 5. It was then that Haj Sheikh Mohammad Hasan Saleh Ali Shah, the Gotb (Imam) of the time gave him the name of “Darveesh Naser Ali.”
Shams published his first book “Secrets of love” (Asrar-Ul-Eshgh) in 1030 in Isfahan. His son, Abdul-baghi Izadghoshasb, published the edited second edition in 1338. A third edition, which included a preface by Hosein Kazem Zadeh Iran-shahr, was published in 1349. Even a fourth edition was published in 1360. “Secrets of love” is an interpretation (Tafseer) of sureh Yousef from Qur’an and interview of profit Yusuf with Khezr.
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1. Sufism or tasawwuf, as it is called in Arabic, is generally understood by scholars and Sufis to be the inner, mystical, or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam.
2. Mola Mohammad Ali Ibn Molla Mohammad Sadegh
Molla Mohammad Javad Ibn Molla Abas
Haji Molla Ali Ibn Haji Ghafar
Hiji Mirza Mohammad Begher Ibn Marhoom Molla Mohammad Ali Agha Aaeed
Agha Mirza Mohammad kazem
3. Haj Agha Hosien Borojerdi
Agha Seyed Ali Najaf Abadi
Agha Meerza Mohammad Ali Taveeseer Kanee
Jahangheez Khane Ghashghaee
Agha Sheikh Mohammad Taghee najafee
Molla Mohammad Kashanee.
4. Nosrat had become ill with Hasbeh after her mother’s death. Her doctors have said that Nosrat is too sick and can’t be helped. Nosrat’s uncle, Haj Abdul Hadi, who had heard of Sham’s healing power asked him to see Nosart. To entice the poor Shams, Hadi tells him that if he makes her well Shams could marry her. Shams visits Nosrat’s and heals her. After several month Shams and Nosrat marry. Shams was so poor that Nosrat’s uncle, haj abdul hadi, paid for the wedding.
Source: shams.info