Dhu’l-Riyasatayn (Munis ‘Ali Shah)

 Dhu ‘l-Riyasatayn, Hajj Mirza ‘Abd al-Husayn Munis ‘Alishah (1873-1953), son of Wafa’alishah. A Sufi, journalist, and poet bearing the title and nom de plume Munis ‘Alishah and Munis ibn ‘Ali Dhu ‘l-Riyasatayn Wafa’alishah ibn Aqa Muhammad Munawwar ‘Alishah, Chief Shaykh of the Ni’mat Allahiyya Order was born in Shiraz. Munis ‘Alishah went to school at the age of seven and studied with Sayyid Muhammad Nabi Kermani at the age of nine. He studied Persian, ‘Arabic, grammar, jurisprudence, and principles of jurisprudence with him. He studied rhetoric and logic with Hakim Nasr Allah at the Mansuriyya School; philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, and algebra with Mirza ‘Abd Allah Rahmat, great grandson of Wisal; theology with Mirza Aqa-yi Jahrumi and his student, Muhammad Hadi; commentary on Fusus al-Hikam with Husayn Sabziwari, a student of Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabziwari and Shaykh al-Muhaqqiqin Istahbanati; Makasib (by Shaykh Murtaza Ansari), purification (taharat), and mathematics with Shaykh Muhammad Baqir Istahbanati and Hajj Mirza ‘Abd al-Baqi; Qur’an recitation with Shaykh ‘Abd al-Nabi Shirazi; Qur’anic Exegesis, Lum’a, and mainly religious teachings with Wafa’alishah and Shaykh Ja’far Mahallati. He practiced meditation and trod the Sufi path with his father for a while. He established ‘Islamic Associations’ and the Ansar Association at the break of the Constitutional Movement. Then, he founded the Mas’udiyya School (1907), Pars Publications, and the Ihya’ Newspaper (1912). He became the chief shaykh of the Sufi order after the death of Sayyid Isma’il Ujaq Sadiq ‘Alishah Kirmanshahi, who had succeeded Dhu ‘l-Riyasatan’s father. The line of the chief shaykhs of his order is as follows: 1. Sayyid Isma’il Ujaq Sadiq ‘Alishah; 2. Hajj ‘Ali Aqa Dhu ‘l-Riyasatayn Wafa’alishah; 3. Hajj Aqa Muhammad Munawwar ‘Alishah; 4. Hajj Zayn al-‘Abidin Rahmat ‘Alishah; 5. Hajj Zayn al-‘Abidin Shirwani Mast’alishah; 6. Hajj Muhammad Ja’far Hamadani Majzub’alishah; 7. Husayn ‘Alishah Isfahani; 8. Nur’alishah Isfahani; 9. Ma’sum ‘Alishah. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca with his father in 1899 and once again he went on pilgrimage to Mecca on his own in 1921. He settled in Tehran in 1929. His works include: Munis al-Salikin; Dalil al-Salikin; Burhan al-Salikin; Jabr wa Tafwiz; Kashfiyya; Najat az Shubahat; Hawashi bar Mathnawi-yi Mulla-yi Rumi; Risala-yi Idrisiyya; Tarikh-i Hubb al-Watan (poetical composition in 3 vols.); Risala-yi Ruhiyya; Risala-yi Tul-i ‘Umr; Anis al-Muhajirin wa Munis al-Muhajirin; Diwan-i Munis (2 vols.). His tomb is at the Ni’mat Allahiyya Sufi Center in Kermanshah.

Asar-afarinan (3/ 63); Danishmandan va Sukhansarayan-i Fars (5/ 574-580).