Seyedeh Dr. Nahid Angha

Nahid Angha, Ph.D. is Co-Director of the International Association of Sufism (IAS), the Executive Editor of the quarterly journal, Sufism: An Inquiry, and founder of the International Sufi Women Organization. She is the main representative of the IAS to the United Nations (NGO/DPI), and the first Muslim woman inducted to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame.

Dr. Angha, the daughter of Moulana Shah Maghsoud, the twentieth century Persian Sufi of the Uwaiysi School of Sufism, was the first women appointed to teach in her father's school. She was also the first women to sit at the center circle with Muslim leaders from around the world to lead meditation at the international Sufism Symposium.

An internationally published author, featured in media and publication including White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America and Women in Sufism: A Hidden Treasure, she is one of the major Muslim scholars of the present time with over fourteen published works.

Her dedication to peace has led her to serve in various leadership roles in large-scale international interfaith organizations. Dr. Angha has given lectures and taught classes nationally as well as internationally.

Leadership Roles

Dr. Angha has served as:

• President of the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio
• Assembly member of the Parliament of the World Religions, Cape Town, S. Africa
• Assembly member of the Parliament of the World Religions, Barcelona, Spain
• Member of a committee to represent San Francisco Bay Area interfaith community to the Goldin Institute, Manresa, Spain
• Scholar Advisor for the Interfaith Sacred Space Design Competition, Barcelona
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for World Religions
• Member of the Organizational Design team of the United Religions Initiative
• Founding member of the URI Council for Women
• Founding and Board Member for the Foundation for Advancement of Women in Religion
• Main representative to the United Nations of which IAS is a non-governmental organization (NGO/DPI)

Selected Lectures

• United Nations-NGO annual conferences, United Nations, New York
• "Humanitarian Intervention: A Way towards Global Peace," UN, New York
• "Women in Islam" Parliament of the World Religions, Cape Town
• "Millennium Peace of Religious Leaders," United Nations, New York
• "Sufism: Literature and Poetry" at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C.
• "The Vision for the 21st Century" which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, in New York City as well as at the University of California, Berkeley
• Women Spiritual Leaders at the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equity, New York
• Participant at His Majesty Mohammed IV's First International Conference on Sufism, Morocco