Khusravī, ‛Abdul-Ali, known as Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī

Khusravī, ‛Abdul-Ali, known as Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī, was a poet, writer, and researcher of Bakhtīyārī culture.

He was born on the 29^th of September or 4^th of October 1928/7^th or 12^th of Mehr 1307 in Idheh (Mālmīr of Bakhtīyārī).¹ His father, Ghulām-Hussein Kāʾedī, belonged to the Bābādī tribe of the Bakhtīyārī, from the Mīr-Kāʾed/Mīr-Qāʾed lineage, and his mother was from the city of Kīyān in Chahār Maḥāl va Bakhtīyārī. His father was a farmer and his mother a homemaker. ‛Abdul-Ali lost his father at the age of five, after which his mother assumed responsibility for his upbringing. At the age of six, he attended the maktab-khāne of Mullā Qadam-Ali in Idheh, where he studied for a year and a half—an experience which, in his own words, laid the foundations of his earliest learning.²

In 1936/1315, ‛Abdul-Ali went to the state elementary school of Idheh to continue his education and studied there up to the fourth grade. However, as there was no higher class available therein, he was forced to discontinue his studies and began working in his stepfather’s shop. By his own account, he had little understanding of buying and selling and had no inclination towards trade or commerce at all.³ After two years of work, he moved from Idheh to Haftkel, where he returned to school and, despite difficulties, completed the fifth and sixth grades of elementary education. Once again, however, the conditions for further study were not available, and he was compelled to return to his stepfather’s shop, where he spent another two years as a shopkeeper. In 1949/1328, he voluntarily enlisted for military service and served in the 92nd Armored Division of Ahvaz. In September 1951/Shahrivar 1330, he completed his service, and in October/Mehr of the same year he resumed his studies. Following an accelerated course of study, he obtained his high-school diploma in the natural sciences in Ahvaz in 1952/1331.⁴

In 1952/1331, Khusravī married Belqeys Kurdīyān, a family acquaintance of his paternal uncle and a native of Burūjen. Their married life lasted for more than six decades. His wife describes him as a kind, hospitable, patient, good-tempered, calm, and untroublesome man who did not take life too hard and paid great attention to family visits and social ties.⁵icant services to society.⁶ In 1952/1331, Khusravī entered the employment of the State Rail-way of Iran and served in administrative positions in Ahvaz and Durūd. In 1959/1338, at the recommendation of the railway’s personnel department, he was sent to Tehran to attend a health program. After completing a university course and obtaining a degree in sanitary engineering, he returned to Ahvaz and continued his work with the rail-way.⁷

In 1975/1354, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Culture and Art and in view of his own interest in cultural and literary activities, Khusravī was transferred to the General Directorate of Culture and Art of Khuzestan, where he took up the post of head of the department of writing and libraries. He carried out his cultural responsibilities in the General Directorate of Culture and Art with great enthusiasm: he expanded the libraries of Khuzestan and established and revitalized literary societies. In addition, he made considerable efforts to promote the auxiliary and research activities of libraries; alongside these duties, he continued his literary pursuits and produced a number of works. Khusravī’s planning, sustained efforts, and effective activities in the administration of libraries—including the preparation of a cultural profile for the villages of Khuzestan Province—led to his being sent on a one-month incentive mission to Europe in 1977/1356. He recounts part of the memories of this journey in the travelogue az Idheh tā Champs-Élysées, in which he compares the lives of people in the East and the West. Khusravī retired in 1981/1360. For one or two years he worked in a pharmacy in Ahvaz, but pharmacy work, like shop keeping before it, did not satisfy his ardent temperament.⁸

In 1987/1366, Khusravī moved from Ahvaz to Isfahan and settled in Malek-shahr*. During these years, he began his activities in the field of ethnic culture and literature and established contacts with the poets of Isfahan. Gradually, he became a regular presence in Isfahan’s poetry and literary circles and played an effective role as a connecting bridge between the literary gatherings of Eṣfahānī and Bakhtīyārī poets. Later, in cooperation with several Bakhtīyārī poets, he founded the Darāb Afsar Bakhtiyārī Poetry and Literature Society⁹ and assumed responsibility for it. This society held literary sessions and critical discussions in Isfahan for nearly two decades; however, following Khusravī’s illness and death, its activities gradually diminished. Khusravī composed numerous poems on the cultural and historical stature of Isfahan, and on its natural endowments and cultural heritage.

Over a period of nearly half a century, Khusravī produced a substantial body of poetry. His first work was the dialectal poetry collection gulbahār (Ahvaz, 1965/1344), and his final work was dīvān-e qāʾed-e bakhtīyārī (Isfahan, 2013/1392). Among his other works are ātash dar nakhlestān (Isfahan, 1997/1376), ʿarūs-e dālānkūh (Isfahan, 2000/1379), du-beytī-hā-ye qāʾed-e bakhtīyārī (Isfahan, 2002/1381), and du ketāb dar yek ketāb (Isfahan, 2012/1391). Khusravī’s poetic pen name was Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī. This pen name both reflects his lineage, which traces back to the Mīr-Qāʾed branch, and signifies his pioneering role in the field of ethnic culture and literature in the contemporary period. Khusravī composed poetry in both Persian and Bakhtīyārī. His style is aligned with classical Persian poetry, yet he also showed a degree of affinity and sympathy with the modernist, Nīmāyʾī poets.¹⁰

From his youth, alongside poetry, Khusravī also took up writing. His cultural and social writings and articles, from the 1950s/1330s onwards, were published in journals, biographical anthologies (tadhkerehā), and literary miscellanies (jungs). During his three decades of residence in Isfahan, he authored seven volumes on Bakhtīyārī history and culture and was among the most prolific Bakhtīyārī writers. Among Khusravī’s works in the field of Iranian nomads, particularly the Bakhtīyārī, are: farhang-e bakhtīyārī (Tehran, 1989/1368), tārīkh va farhang-e bakhtīyārī (Isfahan, 1993/1372), gūyesh-e bakhtīyārī (Isfahan, 1996/1375), farhang va adabīyyāt-e bakhtīyārī (Isfahan, 1996/1375), bakhtīyārī dar jelve-gāh-e farhang (Isfahan, 2000/1379), farhang-e sīyāsī-ye ‛ashāyer-e junūb-e īrān (Isfahan, 2002/1381), and dar enteẓār-e sepīde-damān (Isfahan, 2005/1384).

More than sixty Iranian and Bakhtīyārī cultural, literary, and social figures have praised Khusravī’s activities in the field of the culture and society of Iran’s ethnic groups. Among them is Fereydūn Junaydī (a scholar of the Shāhnāme), who regards Khusravī as a tireless and enlightening advocate of culture who has followed in the path of Ferdavsī; Māshāʾ-Allāh Ājūdānī (head of the Centre for Persian Studies in London) considers the publication of Khusravī’s historical and cultural books to be a fresh initiative for a better understanding of Iran’s ethnic groups. Eḥsān Yārshāṭer, ex-editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, likewise praised Khusravī’s love for Iran and his efforts to introduce the culture and literature of the Bakhtīyārī nomads. Muẓaffar Bakhtīyār, professor at Peking University, regards Khusravī’s oral historiography—especially concerning groups for which sufficient written sources are not available—as particularly valuable, and commends his efforts to compile the collection History and Culture of the Bakhtīyārī.¹¹

Over the past two decades, Khusravī has been honored on numerous occasions in recognition of his social and literary services and the publication of enduring works in the fields of Bakhtīyārī history, culture, and literature, and he received letters of appreciation from national and provincial authorities. These honors include the Bakhtīyārī and Lurestān Nomads Cultural Conference in 1999/1378 (Tehran, Academy of Arts); in appreciation of his cultural and literary contributions, the alley of his residence in Ahvaz was named Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī; and the Municipality of Isfahan installed a sign bearing the name Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī at his place of residence in Malek-shahr. It should also be noted that a commemorative ceremony honoring Khusravī was held in Najaf-ābād* with the participation of admirers of Iranian and Bakhtīyārī culture and literature, on which occasion the book balūṭ-e zāgrus was published. This volume, comprising 350 pages, addresses all aspects of Khusravī’s life and his cultural and literary activities.

In March 2018/Esfand 1396, after enduring a brief period of illness, Khusravī passed away at the age of 89. His body was laid to rest following a funeral attended by admirers of Bakhtīyārī culture and literature, and he was buried in the section of distinguished figures (qeṭ‛eh-ye nāmāvarān) at Bāgh-e Reẓvān* Cemetery in Isfahan. Verses from the poem marg-e shā‛er are inscribed on his tombstone.¹²

With such a destiny, what sorrow is there if they grant me a place,
whether they lay my body in Idheh or in Isfahan,

or, after the questioning and answering of the living,
I shall rest in the section of the renowned.

bā chunīn bakhtī che gham, gar jā dahand
peykaram rā Idheh yā dar Isfahan

yā ke ba‛d-e sīn-u-jīm-e zendegān
rū naham dar qeṭ‛e-ye nāmāvarān

/Eqbal Salehi/

Bibliography

Bahrāmī, Ali-Muhammad. pazhūheshī dar bāb-e she‛r va ʿerfān dar sarzamīn-e bakhtīyārī. Tehran: Pāzī Tīgar, 2005/1384.

balūṭ-e zāgrus: yādnāme-ye ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī “Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī.” Ed. Eqbal Salehi. Farrukhshahr: Jahān Bīn, 2010/1389.

Khusravī, ‛Abdul-Ali, and Belqeys Kurdīyān. Interview. Interviewer: Eqbal Salehi, 22 June 2009/1 Tīr 1388.

Khusravī, ‛Abdul-Ali. divan-e Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī. Isfahan: Shahsavārī, 2013/1392.

Kurdīyān, Belqeys. “yār-e hamrāh: guftugūʾī kūtāh bā belqeys kurdīyān, hamsar-e ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī.” In balūṭ-e zāgrs: yādnāme-ye ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī “Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī,” ed. Eqbal Salehi. Farrukhshahr: Jahān Bīn, 2010/1389.

Salehi, Eqbal. “negāhī be zendegī-ye ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī (Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī).” In balūṭ-e zāgrus: yādnāme-ye ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī “Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī,” ed. Eqbal Salehi. Farrukhshahr: Jahān Bīn, 2010/1389.

“zendegī-nāme-ye ustād ‛Abdul-Ali Khusravī (Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī).” rasāne-ye jāme‛-e īl-e bābādī, 2017/1396, Retrieved Jun. 7, 2026, from:  https://babadi.ir/?p=547

1. Salehi, p. 25.[↩]
2. Ibid., p. 26.[↩]
3. Ibid.[↩]
4. Salehi, pp. 26–27; Khusravī and Belqeys Kurdīyān, interview of 22 June 2009/1 Tīr 1388.[↩]
5. Kurdīyān, pp. 71–73.[↩]
6. Khusravī, pp. 782–783.[↩]
7. Salehi, p. 27.[↩]
8. Salehi, p. 28.[↩]
9. Dārāb Raʾīsī, Afrāsīyāb Ḥeydarī-Nezhād, Qahramān Muhammadī, Ali-Dād Raḥīmī, Aḥmad ‛Abdullāhī Mugūyī, Fatḥullāh Afshār, and Javād Khusravī-Nīyā were among the companions of the late Khusravī in the establishment of the Darāb Afsar Bakhtīyārī Poetry Society.[↩]
10. Bahrāmī, p. 174; “zendegī-nāme-ye ustād ‛Abd al-Ali Khusravī (Qāʾed-e Bakhtīyārī),” 2017/1396.[↩]
11. For these quotations, see balūṭ-e zāgrus, pp. 153–158.[↩]
12. Khusravī, pp. 495–499.[↩]