Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī Kashifi, best simply known as Husayn Kashifi, was a prolific Persian prose-stylist, a poet, a Quran exegete, a Sufi scholar, and an astronomer of the Timurid era. Kashifi was his pen name, whereas his surname al-Wāʿiẓ ("the preacher") denoted his professional occupation. He spent most of his career in Herat, where his academic activities were supported by Ali-Shir Nava'i, a senior vizier in the Timurid court during Sultan Husayn Bayqara's rule, hence the reason for Kashifi to dedicate most of his works to Nava'i. He was also very close to the famous Persian poet and Sufi, Nur al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman Jami. His famous works include Akhlaq-e Mohseni and Anwar-e Sohaili in Persian prose, and Jawaher al-Tafsir and Mawaheb-e 'Aliyya which are Persian tafsirs of the Quran. Life Kashifi was born in Sabzevar, a city in the province of Bayhaq. He therefore often calls himself al-Kashifi al-Bayhaqi in some of his books (cf. Jawaher al-Tafsir). "Kashifi" was his pen name (takhallus). He was also known as Mawlānā Wāʿiẓ Kāshifi or simply Mullā Ḥusayn. He moved to Herat in 860/1456, where he got acquainted with Nur al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman Jami, the famous Persian poet of the Timurid era. Through him he was introduced to Ali-Shir Nava'i, a senior official as well as writer and poet in the Timurid court. Kashifi remained in Herat until his death in 910/1504. He was buried in Herat, in the vicinity of Jami's grave. Controversy over his maddhab Over the years, Kashifi has been a source of controversy between the Sunnis and the Shi'as. However, recent consensus both in the Persian and English academic spheres is that Kashifi was Sunni (and Hanafi) in madhhab despite indications of his pious devotion to Shia Imams which is not unusual among pre-Safavid Sunni scholars. He was occasionally referred to as a Shi'a scholar in some sources for three reasons. First, as like many other Sunni scholars of Khorasan up until the end of the Timurid era (for instance, the famous Persian poet and Sufi, Attar Nishapuri, had composed a book in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt who are respected by the Sunnis and Shias alike), Kashifi composed at least two works in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt and some of the Shi'a Imams. Second, his birthplace, Savzevar, was traditionally a Shia center. Third, when the Safavid empire took over Herat, it promoted Kashifi as a