intermediate works can be helpful in dating the Kitāb al-Aẓilla and even in recognizing its author. Textual existing evidences confirm that these resources had been compiled in the third/ninth and fourth/tenth centuries, and this way it can be said that Kitāb al-Aẓilla dates back to a time earlier than the second/eighth or third/ninth century. Mention has been made of the three compilers of Kitāb al-Aẓilla in the Imami bibliographical references: Ahmad b. Muhammad b. ‘Isā Ash‘arī Qummī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Kathīr Hāshimī and Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Sinān Zāhirī, namely the authors whose age of life coincides with the estimated time span of compilation of the book under discussion.

Based on the isnāds (transmission chains) available in Nusayrī resources (as access channels) to Kitāb al-Aẓilla it is more probable that the book belongs to Muhammad b. Sinān.

Keywords: Kitāb al-Aẓilla, Ghulāt of Kufa, the Nuṣayriyya denomination, Silsilat al-turāth al-‘alawī.