Noor Ali Tabandeh, also known as Majzub Ali Shah, is the leader of the Nematollahi order which is based in the northeastern province of Khorasan but has followers all over Iran.
“On Monday morning, Dr. Noor Ali Tabandeh, the head of Gonabadi Dervishes and a group of other dervishes were arrested in Aliabad village near Bidokht, Gonabad,” the report said.
It added that another member of the sect — known as Nematollahis or Gonabadi Dervishes — was arrested in the clerical capital of Qom for refusing to pay a fine for February 2006 riots in the city.
Sufi worship is not illegal in Iran but the practice is frowned upon by many conservative clerics who regard it as an affront to Islam.
Several dozen Sufi mystics were sentenced to lashes and a year in jail for public disorder in connection with the riots in Qom, pitting the Sufis against security forces and hardline supporters of the official brand of Shiite Islam.
The Islamic mysticism followed by an array of Sufi orders since the early centuries of the faith has always aroused suspicion among orthodox Muslims, whether Shiite or Sunni.
In Shiite Islam, some Sufi orders have been further tarnished by the accusation of heresy because of their association with the unorthodox Alevi faith practised in parts of Syria and Turkey.
