Wurstenfeld and the “Maqtal al-Hosein” attributed to Abu Mekhnaf

The most accurate conclusion reached so far regarding the inauthentic book entitled Maqtal al-Hosein (Book of Hosein’s sufferings) is that, due to numerous interpolations made into various places of the book, none of its different recordings in its separate extant manuscripts can possibly belong to Abu Mekhnaf.  The dating of this book has also been the subject of some discussion and disputation.The present article addresses one of the oldest studies made about this fake work by Heinrich Ferdinand Wustenfeld. He only translated this work into German and, together with a scholarly introduction had it published in Göttingen, 1883. In this this article, for the first time, a Persian translation of the entire text of Wustenfeld’s introduction, is presented along with a relatively extensive bibliography of his research on Islamology and the correction of Islamic texts, his sources and methodology in examining the counterfeit “Maqtal al-Hosein as well as some remarks about the book.