723rd Bukhara night, organized by Bukhara magazine, was held on Wednesday, January 20, 2024, by Ali Dehbashi, in Ferdowsi Hall, House of Humanities Scholars, in memory of Dr Abolfazl Khatibi, researcher in Persian language and literature, Shahnameh scholar, member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Deputy editor of “Iran Bastan” magazine, and a colleague of Jalal Khalegh Motlagh, in correcting the Shahnameh was held primarily.
Ali Debashi, famous among intellectuals as “Emir of Bukhara”, was holding this ceremony, while he had spent a difficult day in the hospital and was speaking with a trembling voice. After briefly mentioning the morale and wit of the author of “Parthians and Sassanians in the National Epic,” he left the tribune to the speakers of the meeting.
The first speaker was Dr Jaleh Amouzegar, professor of ancient languages and member of the Academy of Persian language and literature. In her speech, to describe death, she gave an example in the book of Behrooz Farrokh Pirooz and Gilgamesh. She called the deceased “living memory”, adding that the dead come back and live again through their words and books.
Next to speak was Prof Hasan Anvari, who addressed Dr Dehbashi and quoted a verse, meaning “May your body never need physicians”. He continued: “We call Abolfazl Khatibi the true son of Iran. Anvari narrated memories of the author of “Belief in destination n Persian epic poems” and said: “In his research in the Shahnameh Khatibi didn’t suffice to the text alone but examined all the aspects of the topic from different angles. For example, in one of his articles Khatibi mentioned about the verse “Women and dragon” and said that this verse was not found in 15 authentic versions of the Shahnameh.
After him, Dr Ali Ashraf Sadeghi spoke about two characteristics of Khatibi: “One was his pure heart and straightforwardness, and the other was his sense of gratitude. As an example: he pointed out at Khatibi’s gratitude towards the researchers who had helped him compile and analyze the books; “Faramarznameh” and Shabrangnameh”. He added that these texts should be extracted from the Islamic encyclopedia and have them published in one or more volumes.
The next speaker, Dr Ahmadreza Ghaem Maghami,, recalled writing a joint article about “counseling”, and considered his involvement in Shahnameh research, to have been due to Khatibi’s encouragement. Ghaem Maghami found in Khatibi forgiveness, generosity and magnanimity, compared with the act of chivalry. The author of this accord, who has had the honor of interviewing Prof Khatibi, is agreeable with the speaker in his description of Khatibi.
Sajjad Aidanlu, the next speaker, pointed out to his 20 years of friendship and cooperation with the late Khatibi, and spoke about his colleague’s scientific works and activities. He counted out Khatib’s works, as follows:
– Correction of the 7th volume of Shahnameh, initiated by Jalal Khaleghi Motlagh;
– Correction of three epics in the Shahnameh, in collaboration with other researchers;
– compiling a book about Ferdowsi’s book on “Satire”.
– two more books about Shahnameh, written by Kabir Ilkhani, famous as Damut;
– and about Ferdowsi statues
– 137 articles about Shahnameh, and 49 articles in the high-profile magazine of Bukhara
All of which were the result of more than 20 years of hard work of Dr Khatibi. He ended his speech by recalling a memory of his conversation with Khatibi about “death”, and a brief report about preparing a memoir about Khatibi, in collaboration with Dr Salman Saket and Dr Reza Ghafouri.
