Abu Dawood

Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash‘ath al-Azdi al-Sijistani
Personal Details
Born	817–18 CE Sigistan
Died	889 CE Basra
Ethnicity	Persian
Era	Islamic golden age
Occupation	muhaddith
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sunni Islam
Jurisprudence	Hanbali and ijtihad
Main interest(s)	ḥadīth and fiqh
Notable work(s)	Sunan Abī Dāwūd
Influenced by Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani,[1] Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ali ibn al-Madini, Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh, Yahya ibn Ma'in
Influenced Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i

Abu Dawud Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath al-Azdi as-Sijistani Arabic: أبو داود سليمان بن الأشعث الأزدي السجستاني‎‎), commonly known simply as Abu Dawud, was a noted Persian collector of prophetic hadith, and compiled the third of the six "canonical" hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims, the Sunan Abu Dāwūd.

Biography

Abu Dawud was born in Sistan, eastern Iran (then-Persia) and died in 889 in Basra. Widely traveled among scholars of hadith, he went to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Hijaz, Tihamah, Khurasan, Nishapur, and Marv among other places in order to collect hadith. He was primarily interested in jurisprudence, and as a result his collection focused largely on legal hadith. Out of about 500,000 hadith, he chose 4,800 for inclusion in his work.

School of thought and Quotes

Imam Abu Dawud was a follower of Hanbali although some have consider him Shafi.

From this book of mine four (4) Hadith are sufficient for an intelligent and insightful person.^[2] They are:

• Deeds are to be judged only by intentions.^[3]
• 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

He wrote some 21 books in total. Some of the most prominent are:

• Sunan Abu Dāwūd, containing some 4,800 hadith, is his principal work. These are 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. He indicated that all the hadith in his collection were authenticated (sahih) unless specifically marked as unauthenticated (ḍaʿīf). Some Islamic scholars (such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani) believe a number of the unmarked ones to be ḍaʿīf as well.
• In another work, Kitab al-Marāsīl, he lists 600 mursal hadith which, after extensive background investigation, he concludes are nonetheless sahih.
• Risālat Abu Dāwūd ilā Ahli Makkah; his letter to the inhabitants of Makkah describing his Sunan Abu Dāwūd.^[4]

Early Islam scholars

Early Islamic scholars

Muhammad (570–632) prepared the Constitution of Medina, taught the Quran, and advised his companions                                                     `Abd Allah bin Masud (died 650) taught Ali (607-661) fourth caliph taught Aisha, Muhammad's wife and Abu Bakr's daughter taught Abd Allah ibn Abbas (618-687) taught Zayd ibn Thabit (610-660) taught Umar (579-644) second caliph taught Abu Hurairah (603 – 681) taught                                                                                                           Alqama ibn Qays (died 681) taught   Husayn ibn Ali (626–680) taught Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr (657-725) taught and raised by Aisha Urwah ibn Zubayr (died 713) taught by Aisha, he then taught Said ibn al-Musayyib (637-715) taught Abdullah ibn Umar (614-693) taught Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (624-692) taught by Aisha, he then taught                                                                                           Ibrahim al-Nakha’i taught     Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin (659–712) taught         Hisham ibn Urwah (667-772) taught Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (died 741) taught Salim ibn Abd-Allah ibn Umar taught Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (682-720) raised and taught by Abdullah ibn Umar                                                                                   Hammad bin ibi Sulman taught     Muhammad al-Baqir (676-733) taught Farwah bint al-Qasim Abu Bakr's great grand daughter Jafar's mother                                                               Abu Hanifa (699 — 767) wrote Al Fiqh Al Akbar and Kitab Al-Athar, jurisprudence followed by Sunni, Sufi, Barelvi, Deobandi, Zaidiyyah Shia and originally by the Fatimid and taught Zayd ibn Ali (695-740) Ja'far al-Sadiq (702–765) Ali's and Abu Bakr's great great grand son taught Malik ibn Anas (711 – 795) wrote Muwatta, jurisprudence from early Medina period now mostly followed by Sunni in Africa and taught   Al-Waqidi (748 – 822) wrote history books like Kitab al-Tarikh wa al-Maghazi, student of Malik ibn Anas Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Abdul Hakam (died 829) wrote biographies and history books, student of Malik ibn Anas                                                                 Abu Yusuf (729-798) wrote Usul al-fiqh Muhammad al-Shaybani (749–805)       Al-Shafi‘i (767—820) wrote Al-Risala, jurisprudence followed by Sunni and taught Ismail ibn Ibrahim   Ali ibn al-Madini (778–849) wrote The Book of Knowledge of the Companions   Ibn Hisham (died 833) wrote early history and As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah, Muhammad's biography                                                             Isma'il ibn Jafar (719-775) Musa al-Kadhim (745-799)   Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780—855) wrote Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal jurisprudence followed by Sunni and hadith books Muhammad al-Bukhari (810-870) wrote Sahih al-Bukhari hadith books Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (815-875) wrote Sahih Muslim hadith books Muhammad ibn Isa at-Tirmidhi (824-892) wrote Jami` at-Tirmidhi hadith books Al-Baladhuri (died 892) wrote early history Futuh al-Buldan, Genealogies of the Nobles                                 Ibn Majah (824- 887) wrote Sunan ibn Majah hadith book   Abu Dawood (817–889) wrote Sunan Abu Dawood Hadith Book             Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni (864- 941) wrote Kitab al-Kafi hadith book followed by Twelver Shia                     Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838–923) wrote History of the Prophets and Kings, Tafsir al-Tabari   Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936) wrote Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn, Kitāb al-luma, Kitāb al-ibāna 'an usūl al-diyāna             Ibn Babawayh (923-991) wrote Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih jurisprudence followed by Twelver Shia   Sharif Razi (930-977) wrote Nahj al-Balagha followed by Twelver Shia   Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274) wrote jurisprudence books followed by Ismaili and Twelver Shia     Al-Ghazali (1058–1111) wrote The Niche for Lights, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, The Alchemy of Happiness on Sufism   Rumi (1207-1273) wrote Masnavi, Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi on Sufism               KEY: Some of Muhammad's Companions KEY: Taught in Medina KEY: Taught in Iraq KEY: Worked in Syria KEY: Travelled extensively collecting the sayings of Muhammad and compiled books of hadith KEY: Worked in Iran

See also

• Kutub al-Sittah
• Sunan Abu Dawood

References

1. 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.
2. "Imam Abu Dawud". www.sunnah.org. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
3. Shahih Al Bukhari, Imam Al Bukthari, Vol.1 Book 1 Hadith 1
4. Translation of the Risālah by Abū Dāwūd Archived August 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.