Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, a veteran professor of literature and senior researcher of Nahj al-Balāgha (1923–2018/1302–1397).

He was a member of the Ketābī Sādāt family, one of the prominent and reputable families of Isfahan, whose lineage traces back to Sayyed Muhammad-Ṣādeq Ḥusaynī Eṣfahānī, the son-in-law of Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Shaftī*. Ketābī’s grandfather, Mīrzā Muhammad-Taqī Ketābfurūsh, was also a scholar in Isfahan. His father, Sayyed Muhammad-Ṣādeq (d. 1980/1359 Sh.), was a highly respected and devout religious scholar of Isfahan who lived a life of asceticism and piety to the extent that he refused to accept even the position of congregational prayer leader. His mother, Zahra-Baygum Najafī, was the daughter of Sheikh Muhammad-Ali Najafī Eṣfahānī, a descendant of Sheikh Muhammad-Taqī Rāzī*, the founder of the Najafī family of Isfahan. She was a pious woman and a devoted follower of Ḥusayn-Ali Ṣeddīqīn Eṣfahānī* and Ḥājj Āqā Raḥīm Arbāb, both of whom were prominent jurists and philosophers.

Ketābī was born in 1923/1302 into a family known for its religious learning and piety¹. According to his own account, in 1927/1306, his mother enrolled him in a traditional maktab-khāna (elementary religious school), where he learned to recite the Quran and memorized poems by classical poets such as Sa‛dī. He received his primary education at Qudsīyya School and completed his secondary education at Gulbahār* and Sa‛dī* high schools. In 1944/1323, he graduated from high school with a diploma in commerce. For three years, he worked as an accountant for a relative who was a prominent merchant in Isfahan. During the same period, he also began his seminary studies at the Mīrzā Ḥusayn madrasa in the Bīdābād* neighborhood.

His first teacher was Mīrzā Hāshem Kh^wānsārī, chosen for him by Ḥusayn-Ali Ṣeddīqīn, under whose spiritual influence Ketābī remained and whose lectures he regularly attended. Among Ketābī’s other seminary teachers were Āqā Jamāl al-Dīn Kh^wānsārī and Sheikh Hebatullāh Harandī.²

Since accounting neither provided a substantial income nor suited Muhammad-Bāqer’s temperament, in 1950/1329 he decided to pursue higher education. He then took the national university entrance exam and was admitted to the Faculty of Law at the University of Tehran. He moved to Tehran and studied under prominent professors such as Sayyed Muhammad Meshkāt, Maḥmūd Shahābī, Hasan Emāmī, Sharī‛at Sangalajī, Mahdī Elāhī Qumsheʾī, Jalāl al-Dīn Humāyī, Muhammad-Taqī Mudarres Raḍavī, and Badī‛ al-Zamān Furūzānfar. In 1954/1333, he defended his thesis titled “ʿAqd-e Fuḍūlī dar Feqh va Ḥuqūq-e Madanī” [“Unauthorized Contracts in Islamic Jurisprudence and Civil Law”] received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in Judicial Law.

One year later, on the recommendation of Professor Badr al-Dīn Ketābī*, he was employed by the Isfahan Department of Education and began teaching Persian literature, Arabic language, logic, and philosophy at several schools and high schools in Isfahan, including Hātef*, Harātī*, Ṣāremīya*, Adab*, and Qudsīye*.³

During this period, Ketābī associated with several prominent scholars of Isfahan, such as Sheikh Mahdī Najafī Masjed-Shāhī, Sayyed Hussein Khādemī*, Muhammad-Bāqer Ulfat Eṣfahānī*, Sayyed ‛Abd al-Hussein Ṭayyeb*, Muhammad Mehryār*, Badr al-Dīn Ketābī, and particularly Mīrzā Ali Āqā Shīrāzī* and Ḥājj Āqā Raḥīm Arbāb. He greatly respected these scholars and attended their classes informally and intermittently.⁴

In 1959/1338, Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī was admitted to the doctoral program in theology at the University of Tehran. In 1962/1341, he began writing his dissertation titled Rejāl-e Eṣfahān [Notable Figures of Isfahan]. Six years later, he successfully defended his dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. in Theology and Islamic Studies from the University of Tehran.⁵

During the years that Ketābī taught Persian literature, Islamic studies, and mystical texts at Isfahan’s high schools and at the Faculty of Literature and Sciences at the University of Isfahan,⁶ he educated and mentored hundreds of students, guiding them in their understanding of Persian culture, classical literature, and religious thought. He was deeply versed in classical mystical and literary texts, and his personal demeanor reflected simplicity, ethical living, and warm, sincere relationships with his students. These qualities made his university lectures particularly popular, drawing large audiences. Moreover, many of his students admired him far beyond the typical teacher–student relationship, considering him a moral role model.⁷ In addition to his formal teaching at schools and the university, Ketābī also held informal study sessions on Nahj al-Balāgha and Rūmī’s Mathnavī, and occasionally delivered sermons in religious gatherings.⁸

In March–April 2018/Farvardīn 1397, Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī passed away at the age of 95, after several months of illness. A funeral ceremony befitting his scholarly stature was held, and he was laid to rest in Section 33 of Bāgh-e Reḍwān* Cemetery in Isfahan.⁹ Ketābī was known as a skilled literary figure well-versed in many branches of Islamic knowledge. He was a compassionate, kind, humble, and pious teacher, deeply devoted to the Prophet’s family (Ahl al-Bayt). He was widely recognized for his contentment, tolerance, avoidance of prejudice and extremism—both in thought and action—and for his deeply spiritual and ethical character in the truest sense of the word.¹⁰

Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī authored numerous works, including: al-Meftāḥ le-Kunūz Nahj al-Balāgha [The Key to the Treasure of Nahj al-Balāgha]. This work offers an exegetical analysis of all the lexical items in Nahj al-Balāgha, including its vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and an explanation on number of difficult phrases, modeled after al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Quran by Rāgheb Eṣfahānī* (d. 1108). This 886-page book was published in Isfahan in 2015/1394.¹¹ Rejāl-e Eṣfahān dar ‛Elm va ‛Erfān va Adab va Hunar [Prominent Figures of Isfahan in Knowledge, Mysticism, Literature, and Art] is another of his works, originally submitted as his doctoral dissertation in Islamic Theology and Mysticism. The first volume was published in Isfahan in 1996/1375. His undergraduate thesis in judicial law, titled Resāle-ī dar ‛Aqd-e Fuḍūlī, has also been published. Ketābī collaborated with a group of teachers to compile Ketāb-e Feqh in five volumes for use in high schools. He also helped prepare Āmuzesh-e Zabān-e ‛Arabī [Teaching Arabic Grammar], which was published in three volumes. Additionally, he authored Tārīkh-e Mukhtaṣar-e Falsafe va Ma‛āref-e Eslāmī for students of the Faculty of Literature. Other his works include Adabīyāt va Āyīn-e Negāresh, Sukhanī az She‛r va Naẓm va Nathr dar Adab-e Fārsī, Muntakhabī az Naẓm va Naṯhr dar Adab-e Fārsī, Durūs-e Sharḥ-e Nahj al-Balāgha, and Durūs-e Sharḥ-e Mathnavi, many of which remain in manuscript form¹². Furthermore, he collaborated with a number of religious scholars to edit al-Wāfī, the renowned work of Mullā Muḥsen Feyḍ Kāshānī (d.1598/1007), which was published in 1975/1354 in Isfahan by the Imām Amīr al-Muʾmenīn Ali Library.

In addition to his authored works, Ketābī also wrote prefaces for some books, including Waḥdat-e Wujūd by Faḍlullah Ḍīyānūr, Akhlāq-e Pīr Zhāneh, Dīvān-e Mūzūn, Gulshan-e Ulfat, and Ḥāṣel-e ‛Umr. He also published articles in journals such as Keyhān-e Farhangī, Mīrāth-e Jāvīdān, Yād, and Dāneshnamā.¹³

/Mehdi Najar Arabi/

Bibliography

‛Ābedī, Ali, “Negāhī be Marām-e Tarbīyatī-ye Ustād”, in a memorial work titled in Persian Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, [ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Baṣīrī, Mahdī, “Maḥḍar-e Shād”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Falsafī, Hedāyatullah, “Ḥukmguzār-e Mulk-e Adab va Andīshe”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Ketābī, Aḥmad, “Ashk-Neveshteī dar Suq-e Behtarīn Mu‛allem-e Dunyā”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, “Bugzāshtī-am Gham-e Tu Nagzāsht Marā / Ḥaqqā ke Ghamat az Tu Vafātar Ast” (interview), interviewer: Maryam Amshāspand, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398a.

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, “Mardī az Qabīla-ye ‛Ulamā-ye Dīn [Zendegināme-ye Khudnevīsht-e Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī]”, ed. Mahdī Najjār A‛rābī, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398c.

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, “Pazhvāke Muḥabbat” (interview), interviewer: Hussein Masjedī, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398b.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, A‛lām-e Eṣfahān, ed. and annotated by Ghulām-Reza Naṣrullāhī, vol. 1, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2007/1386.

Masjedī, Hussein, “Sālnegār-e Zendegī-ye Ustād”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Mūsavī, Sayyed Kamāl, “Wara‛-e Mujassam”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Nadīmī Harandī, Maḥmūd, “Murshed-e Rushan-Ḍamīr-e Mā”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Nahchīrī, Aṣghar, “Mu‛allem-e ‛Eshq va ‛Erfān”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Najafī, Hādī, “Khāndān-e Faḍl va Taqvā”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Sādāt, Ḥasan, “Ānche Gum Kardīm”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Ṣāfīyān, Muhammad-Reza, “Madhūsh-e Surūr-e Vaṣl”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Ṣalavātī, Faḍlullah, “Be Yād-e Zende-Yād-e Ustād”, in Rushanā-ye Shahr: Yādnāme-ye Ustād Doctor Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, ed. Hussein Masjedī, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2019/1398.

Ṣedāqat Thamar Ḥusaynī, Kāmyār, “Dar Bāre-ye Kelīd-e Gushāyesh-e Nahj al-Balāgha”, Jahān-e Ketāb, vol. 21, no. 10, Dey 1395/Dec. 2016.

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, Personal Website, 2016/1395.
Retrieved Apr. 7, 2025, from https://drketabi.com

1.  See: Mahdavī, vol. 1, p. 102; Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019a/1398, pp. 21–23; id., 2019b/1398, Masjedī’s introduction, p. 43; Najafī, pp. 63, 66–68; Ṣalavātī, p. 73; for other scholars from this family, see also: Najafī, pp. 68–69.[↩]
2. Mahdavī, vol. 1, p. 102; Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019a/1398, pp. 19, 24–25; id., 2019c/1398, p. 144; Masjedī, p. 12; Najafī, pp. 63–64.[↩]
3.  Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019a/1398, pp. 25–26; id., 2019b/1398, p. 52; id., 2019c/1398, p. 144; Ṣalavātī, p. 73; Falsafī, p. 95; Najafī, p. 63.[↩]
4. See: Mahdavī, vol. 1, p. 103; Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019a/1398, pp. 24, 28, 31–36, 38–41; id., 2019b/1398, pp. 45–46; Ṣalavātī, p. 73; Najafī, pp. 63–64; Mūsavī, p. 81.[↩]
5. Mahdavī, vol. 1, p. 103; Masjedī, p. 12; Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019c/1398, p. 145.[↩]
6. Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019c/1398, p. 144.[↩]
7. Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 2019b/1398, introduction by Masjedī, p. 43; Nadīmī Harandī, p. 125; Aḥmad Ketābī, p. 88; Ṣalavātī, p. 75; Naḥchīrī, pp. 103–106; for tributes to Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī’s scholarly and moral stature by Isfahan University of Technology and other institutions, see: Masjedī, p. 13.[↩]
8. Ṣalavātī, pp. 77–79; Sādāt, p. 107; Baṣīrī, p. 99; Nadīmī Harandī, pp. 127–128.[↩]
9. Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī, 1398b, introduction by Masjedī, p. 43; Najafī, pp. 63, 65; for his autobiographical account, see: Personal Website of Dr. Ketābī, 2016/1395.[↩]
10. Aḥmad Ketābī, pp. 86–88; Ṣalavātī, pp. 73, 75–76; Mūsavī, p. 81; Ṣāfīyān, pp. 117–119; ‛Ābedī, p. 137.[↩]
11. For a relatively good description of this book, see: Ṣedāqat Thamar Ḥusaynī, pp. 13–15.[↩]
12. See: Mahdavī, vol. 1, p. 103; Najafī, pp. 64–65; Ṣalavātī, p. 77.[↩]
13. For information on his works, see: Masjedī, pp. 12–14.[↩]