Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī ( ar, أبو داود سليمان بن الأشعث الأزدي السجستاني), commonly known simply as Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, was a scholar of prophetic hadith who compiled the third of the six "canonical" hadith collections recognized by

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Muslims, the '' Sunan Abu Dāwūd''. He was a Persian speaker of Arab descent.

Biography

Abū Dā’ūd was born in Sistan and died in 889 in Basra. He traveled widely collecting

ḥadīth Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

(traditions) from scholars in Iraq, Egypt,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Hijaz,

Tihamah Tihamah or Tihama ( ar, تِهَامَةُ ') refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb. Etymology Tihāmat is the Proto-Semitic language's term for 'sea'. Tiamat (or Tehom, in mas ...

Nishapur Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...

, and Merv among other places. His focus on legal ḥadīth arose from a particular interest in fiqh (law). His collection included 4,800 ḥadīth, selected from some 500,000. His son, Abū Bakr ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Dā’ūd (died 928/929), was a well known '' ḥāfiẓ'' and author of ''Kitāb al-Masābīh'', whose famous pupil was Abū 'Abd Allāh al-Marzubānī.

School of thought and Quotes

Imam Abu Dawud was a follower of Hanbali although some have consider him Shafi. Imam Abu Dawud himself has stated: "From this book of mine four (4) Hadith are sufficient for an intelligent and insightful person. They are: * Deeds are to be judged only by intentions. * Part of a man's good observance of Islam is that he leaves alone that which does not concern him. * None of you can be a believer unless you love for your brother that which you love for yourself. * The permitted (''halal'') is clear, and the forbidden (''haram'') is clear, between these two are doubtful matters. Whosoever abstains from these doubtful matters has saved his religion."

Works

Principal among his twenty-one works: *'' Sunan Abu Dāwūd''; contains 4,800 hadithmostly ''sahih'' (authenticated), some marked ''ḍaʿīf'' (unauthenticated)usually numbered after the edition of Muhammad Muhyi al-Din `Abd al-Hamid (Cairo: Matba`at Mustafa Muhammad, 1354/1935), where 5,274 are distinguished. Islamic scholar

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...

), and some others, believe a number of the unmarked hadith are ''ḍaʿīf''. *''Kitab al-Marāsīl'', lists 600 extensively investigated ''sahih'' ''mursal hadith''. *''Risālat Abu Dāwūd ilā Ahli Makkah''; letter to the people of Makkah describing his Sunan Abu Dāwūd. *''Kitāb al-Masāhif'', catalogs non-Uthmanic variants of the Qur'an text

References

Bibliography

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External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

Biography at Sunnah.com

Letter from Imam Abu Dawud to the people of Makkah explaining his book, terms he uses, and his methodology.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Dawood 810s births 888 deaths Iranian people of Arab descent Hadith compilers Hadith Hadith studies Taba‘ at-Tabi‘in Hanbalis Atharis 9th-century jurists