Dabistan Madhhab

Sheikh M. al-Khatib's fourth claim (p.6) is that Surat al-Wilaya is also contained in a Shia book called Dabistan Madhhab, written in Farsi by Muhsin Fani al-Kashmiri, and "printed in Iran several times". Our response to this is: (i) that it is not a Shia book; (ii) there is no certainty that its author is the one mentioned by Sheikh M. al-Khatib; (iii) it is not true that it was printed in Iran several times; and, most importantly, (iv) in it Surat al-Wilaya is not mentioned at all! This is what Sheikh Lutful-Lahi as-Swafi, who did research on that claim and who understands the Farsi language well, says in his book, Ma'al Khatib Fi Khututihil Aridhwa (pp. 64-66). Below we just summarise the contents of those pages:

The book in question has nothing to do with Shiism, but deals with various customs and traditions - authentic and false. It is full of stories which cannot be believed to be true by any sound-minded person, and many of those stories are credited to people who are unknown, although their names suggest that they were Hindu dervishes.

The book does not carry the name of the author nor his madhhab. In fact there are disagreements as to who its actual author is. Some say it is Muhammad Fan, while others mention the name of Mobed Shah. Yet others say it is Mobed Afraseyab, while the rest say it is Kykhosro Ibn Azar Kywan. In short, it is not certain that Muhsin Fani al-Kashmiri is the one who wrote it.

As regards the claim that it was "printed in Iran several times", Sheikh Lutful-Lahi as-Swafi says (p.66) that after searching so hard for it in all major libraries he managed to find only three copies: the first edition, published in Bombay in 1262; the second edition, published in 1268, but with no mention of where it was published; and the third edition, also published in Bombay, in 1277. Are these "several times"? And is Bombay in Iran?