The Quest for the Author of Kitāb Maqṣad al-Rāghib

Maqṣad al-rāghib fī faḍāʾil ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib is the short title of a book that has been of interest since at least from the 11th century AH due to its unique content and quotations from old or missing sources, and it has been among the sources of Shiite scholars, such as Shaykh Hur al-Amili and Allama Majlisi. Most of them consider the author to be "Husayn b. Muhammad b. al-Hasan", as one of the scholars of the 5th century AH. In this research, after introducing the work and the only known manuscript of it, which is dedicated to the virtues of the twelve Imams and Hazrat Zahra (PBUT); various opinions expressed about the author, and the reason for the wrong attribution of the book to the mentioned person is discussed. Then, the process performed on the manuscript - to remove two leaves from the first leaf of the original manuscript - is explained. Some data about the author's father was discovered on the first page, which paved the way for identifying him. The searching the sources of Islamic biographies brought forward a hypothesis that was confirmed by the examination of the pieces of evidence in the manuscript and the text of the work, and led to the identification of the author, i.e. Khalil b. Husayn al-Musilī, who lived in Mosul and Erbil in the 7th century A.H. Moreover, the full title was found to be as follows: Kitāb Maqṣad al-rāghib al-Ṭālib fī faḍāʾil al-Imam ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib wa ahl-i Baytihī Nujum al-Samā wa Masābīh al-Dujā wa Sufun al-Naja Alayhim al-salāt wa al-salām. This research opens doors for more Shiite history studies in Mosul during the 7th century AH.