The order is named after its 14th century CE Sunni founder and qotb, Shah Nimatullah (Nūr ad-Din Ni'matullāh Wali), who settled in and is buried in Mahan, Kerman Province, Iran, where his tomb is still an important pilgrimage site.

[citation needed] From its foundation by Shah Nimatullah, the Sufi order has rejected seclusion and quietism with an established a principle of meaningful participation and service to society.

The order is named after its 14th century CE Sunni founder Shah Nimatullah (Nūr ad-Din Ni'matullāh Wali), who settled in and is buried in Mahan, Kerman Province, Iran, where his tomb is still an important pilgrimage site.

Shah Ni'matallāhī was a disciple of the Qadiri Sufi ʿAbd-Allah Yefâ'î: a chain of succession of masters (silsilah) has been claimed that extends back to Maruf Karkhi.

Mūnis ʿAli Shah soon assigned the young Javad Nurbakhsh all of the principal duties for operating and maintaining the Nimatullahi khaniqah in Tehran, before the age of twenty — a time when he was also pursuing full-time medical studies in university.

His later accession as qotb initiated a period of expansion, vitality and renewal for the order that bore comparison to the revival by his 18th century predecessor and spiritual namesake, Nūr 'Ali Shāh.