Abu Dawud al-Sijistani explained

Religion:	Islam
Era:	Islamic golden age (Abbasid era)
Abu Dawud al-Sijistani
Birth Date:	817–18 CE / 202 AH
Birth Place:	Sistan, Abbasid Caliphate
Death Date:	889 CE / 275 AH
Death Place:	Basra, Abbasid Caliphate
Denomination:	Sunni
School:	Hanbali
Creed:	Athari^[1] ^[2]
Occupation:	muhaddith
Main Interests:	ḥadīth and fiqh
Influences:	Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani,^[3] Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ali ibn al-Madini, Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh, Yahya ibn Ma'in
Influenced:	Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i
Works:	Sunan Abī Dāwūd

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.

School of thought and Quotes

Imam Abu Dawud was a follower of Hanbali although some have considered him Shafi.^[4]

Imam Abu Dawud has stated: "From this book of mine four Hadith are sufficient for an intelligent and insightful person.^[5] They are:

• Deeds are to be judged only by intentions.^[6]
• 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 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 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.

• 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 collection.^[7]

See also

• Kutub al-Sittah
• Sunan Abu Dawood

Bibliography

• Book: Baghdādī (al-), Al-Khaṭīb Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī . Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi . Ta'rīkh Madīnat al-Salām (Ta'rīkh Baghdād) . Beirut. Dār al-Gharib al-Islāmī . 2001 . X, §4591 . 75 . ar .
• Book: Khallikān (Ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad . Ibn Khallikan. Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān (The Obituaries of Eminent Men) . . William . Paris . Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland . 1843 . 590–91 . I .
• Book: Nadīm (al), Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Ya’qūb al-Warrāq. Ibn al-Nadim. The Fihrist of al-Nadim; a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture. . Bayard . New York & London. Columbia University Press. 1970. 9780231029254. registration.
• Book: Nawawī (al-), Abū Zakarīyā’ Yaḥyā. Kitāb Tahdhīb al-Asmā' (Biographical Dictionary of Illustrious Men). . Ferdinand. Göttingen . London Society for the Publication of the Oriental Texts. 1842. 1847. ar. 708 Arabic.

Further reading

• Encyclopedia: Abderrazzaq. Mohammad A.. Sijistānī, Abū Dāʿūd al-.. 2009. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World . Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-530513-5. Esposito. John L.. John L. Esposito.
• Encyclopedia: Bowker. John. John Bowker (theologian). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī. Oxford University Press. 2000. 978-0-19-280094-7.
• Encyclopedia: Esposito. John L.. John L. Esposito. Sijistani, Abu Daud al-. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam . 2003. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-512558-0.
  • Melchert. Christopher. Christopher Melchert. 2008. The Life and Works of Abu Dāwūd al-Sijistāni. Al-Qantara. 29. 1. 9–44. 10.3989/alqantara.2008.v29.i1.48. free.
  • Robson. James. 1952. The Transmission of Abū Dāwūd's 'Sunan'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 14. 3. 579–588.
  • Encyclopedia: Thomas. David. Thomas. David. Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Sijistānī. Christian-Muslim Relations 600 – 1500. 24 March 2010. Brill Online.

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.

Notes and References

1. Book: El Shamsy, Ahmed . The Canonization of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History. Cambridge University Press . 2013 . 978-1-107-04148-6 . New York. "Al-Buwayti... enjoyed the trust of traditionalist scholars such as Abu Dawud al-Sijistani and al-Humaydı as well as Ahmad b. Hanbal himself..". 197 . Chapter 8: Canonization beyond the Shafi'i School.
2. Book: Melchert, Christopher . The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E . Brill Publishers . 1997 . 90-04-10952-8 . Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands . "the later Iraqi traditionalist Abu Dawud says not only that he was weak..". 165-166 . Chapter 8: The Maliki School.
3. Book: Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm . Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. 1990. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. 9.
4. Web site: Islamic Pedia - Abu Dawood Sijistani (202–275H) أبو داوود السجستاني. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180328041058/http://www.islamicencyclopedia.org/islamic-pedia-topic.php?id=54 . 2018-03-28 .
5. Web site: Imam Abu Dawud. www.sunnah.org. 2016-02-21. 2018-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20180215093725/http://sunnah.org/history/Scholars/imam_abu_dawud.htm. dead.
6. Shahih Al Bukhari, Imam Al Bukthari, Vol.1 Book 1 Hadith 1
7. Web site: Translation of the Risālah by Abū Dāwūd . https://web.archive.org/web/20090819072727/http://www.dkh-islam.com/Content/Article.aspx?ATID=71 . dead . August 19, 2009.