Khalilullah Khalili

Khalilullah Khalili
Khalilollah Khalili on the cover of "Deewaan-e Khalilullah Khalili"
Born	1907
Died	1987
Language	Persian
Nationality	Afghan
Genre	Poetry
Notable works	Hero of Khorasan

Khalilullah Khalili (1907 – 1987; Persian: خلیل‌الله خلیلی‎‎ - Ḫalīlallāḥ Ḫalīlī; alternative spellings: Khalilollah, Khalil Ullah) was Afghanistan's foremost 20th century poet as well as a noted historian, university professor, diplomat and royal confidant. He was the last of the great classical Persian poets and among the first to introduce modern Persian poetry and Nimai style to Afghanistan. He had also expertise in Khorasani style and was a follower of Farrukhi Sistani. Almost alone among Afghanistan's poets, he enjoyed a following in Iran where his selected poems have been published. His works have been praised by renowned Iranian literary figures and intellectuals. Many see him as the greatest contemporary poet of the Persian language in Afghanistan. He is also known for his major work "Hero of Khorasan", a controversial biography of Habībullāh Kalakānī, Emir of Afghanistan in 1929.

Khalili was born in Kabul Province, and came from the same village as Habibullah Kalakani. He wrote exclusively in Persian and is sometimes associated with Tajik nationalist ideology. He belonged to the Pashtun Safi tribe of Kohistan (modern Parwan). His father, Mirzā Muhammad Hussein Khān, was King Habibullah Khan's finance minister and owned mansions in Kabul and Jalalabad, but was later dismissed and hanged by Habibullah Khan's son and successor, Amanullah Khan. His mother was the daughter of Abdul Qādir Khān, a regional Safi tribal leader. She died when Khalili was seven.