Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī (
Arabic: أبو داود سليمان بن الأشعث الأزدي السجستاني), commonly known as Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, was a scholar of prophetic
hadith who compiled the third of the
six "canonical" hadith collections recognized by
Sunni Muslims, the Sunan Abu Dāwūd.
Biography
Born in Persia to an Arab family, Abū Dā’ūd was born in
Sistan and died in 889 in
Basra. He travelled widely collecting
ḥadīth (traditions) from scholars in numerous locations including
Iraq,
Egypt,
Syria,
Hijaz,
Tihamah,
Nishapur and
Merv. 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.[4][5]
School of thought and Quotes
Imam Abu Dawud was a follower of
Hanbali although some have considered him
Shafi.[6]
Imam Abu Dawud has stated: "From this book of mine four
Hadith are sufficient for an intelligent and insightful person.[7] They are:
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 are:
Sunan Abu Dāwūd: contains 4,800
hadith – mostly
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 AH/1935 CE), where 5,274 are distinguished. Islamic scholar
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and some others, believe a number of the unmarked hadith are
ḍaʿīf.
^El Shamsy, Ahmed (2013). "Chapter 8: Canonization beyond the Shafi'i School". The Canonization of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 197.
ISBN978-1-107-04148-6. Al-Buwayti... enjoyed the trust of traditionalist scholars such as Abu Dawud al-Sijistani and al-Humaydı as well as Ahmad b. Hanbal himself..
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 8: The Maliki School". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. pp. 165–166.
ISBN90-04-10952-8. the later Iraqi traditionalist Abu Dawud says not only that he was weak..
^Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.