Ḥosaynqolī Khan, the son of Jaʿfarqolī Khan, from the Dūrakī clan of the Haft Lang, the first credible Baḵtīārī īlḵān. After his father was killed in 1252 Š./1836-37, he was adopted for a time by his paternal uncle and then entered the service of Manūčehr Khan Moʿtamed-al-Dawla (q.v.). After Moʿtamed-al-Dawla defeated and sent Moḥammad-Taqī Kanūrsī of the Čahār Lang (q.v.) into hiding, Ḥosaynqolī Khan prospered. As a reward for his services to Manūčehr Khan in this campaign, he was appointed deputy governor (nāyeb al-ḥokūma) of the Baḵtīārī region and gradually brought the other Baḵtīārī khans under his authority. He was ruthless in suppressing and executing his opponents; he ruled as the īlḵān of the entire Baḵtīārī region for close to forty years.

The length of Ḥosaynqolī Khan’s tenure and the spread of his influence began to concern Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah; he was especially worried by the Baḵtīārī īlḵān’s dealings with the British and the Grey-Mackenzie company. The shah was also troubled by the ever-increasing power of Ẓell-al-Solṭān in the central and southern parts of Iran; he thus dispatched Ḥājī Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Ḡaffār Khan Najm-al-Molk to the Baḵtīārī regions on the pretext of estimating the costs of building the Ahvāz dam, but in actuality to gather intelligence on the size and strength of Ḥosaynqolī Khan’s forces. In the course of his detailed report to the shah on the extent of the īlḵān’s power and influence among the tribes of the south, Najm-al-Molk indicated that Ḥosaynqolī Khan possessed more than 1,000 mares, each of which was worth between 100 and 800 tomans. He concluded “his intentions are not honest, and these sentiments are deeply rooted among the Baḵtīārī.” Najm-al-Molk’s report confirms previous reports that Farhād Mīrzā Moʿtamed-al-Dawla, the ruler of Fārs, had prepared for the shah. Nāṣer-al-Dīn was therefore persuaded to have the īlḵān executed; he instructed his son Ẓell-al-Solṭān, the ruler of Isfahan, to put an end to the īlḵān. Ẓell-al-Solṭān invited the īlḵān to Isfahan, and the īlḵān complied, taking part in ceremonies to review his host’s troops. At the end of the ceremonies, his comment “One hundred Baḵtīārī horsemen are the equal of one thousand of such troops” provided greater impetus for Ẓell-al-Solṭān to carry out his plan. With the ceremonies over, Ẓell-al-Solṭān brought the īlḵān and his two sons, Esfandīār Khan and ʿAlīqolī Khan to government house for discussions; after separating him from his sons and imprisoning them, Ẓell-al-Solṭān issued the order to execute the īlḵān, which his agents carried out that night (27 Rajab 1299/14 June 1882). In addition to the ruthlessness and bravery requisite in the life and position of an īlḵān, Ḥosaynqolī was also a man of sensitivity and refined taste, who was famous for his Baḵtīārī dialect poetry.