Sunan Abi Dawud is a collection of hadith compiled by Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath as-Sijistani (rahimahullah).
About Sunan Abi
Dawud
Sunan Abī Dāwūd is a collection of ḥadīth compiled by
Imām Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ash`ath as-Sijistānī (raḥimahullāh). It is
widely considered to be among the six canonical collections of ḥadīth (Kutub
as-Sittah) of the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws). It consists of 5274 aḥādīth in 43
books.
Author bio:
Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ash`ath
ibn Isḥāq ibn Bashīr ibn Shaddād ibn `Amr ibn `Imrān al-Azdī as-Sijistānī
was born in the year 202 AH in Sijistan, a province in Khurasan (a region
covering parts of present-day Iran and Afghanistan). He was from the Azd tribe
of Yemen.
He began to travel seeking aḥādīth at a young age, and reached
Baghdad in 220 AH when he was 18 years old. He traveled for the purpose of
checking out the possessors of aḥādīth to ensure their reliability
before accepting their narrations. His journeys in search of knowledge took him
through the lands of Khurasan, Iraq, Hijaz, Sham, Egypt, and Nishapur. He was
not only a muḥaddith, but also a prominent faqīh
who studied extensively under Imām Aḥmad ibn Hanbal.
His Virtues:
Imām an-Nawawī states: “All the
scholars are unanimous on the rank and virtue of Abū Dāwūd. He has been praised
for his perfect memory and deep knowledge. He possessed a sound mind and
perfect intellect. Moreover, he was an Imām in the various sciences. All of
this, along with his piety and abstinence made him one of the greatest scholars
of his time.” Adh-Dhahabī said: “Abū Dāwūd was among the greatest of scholars.
It has been said that Abū Dāwūd resembled Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal in manner,
conduct and habits. And in that, Aḥmad resembled Wakī`, who resembled
Sufyān, who resembled Manṣūr, who resembled Ibrāhīm
an-Nakha`ī, who resembled `Alqamah, who resembled `Abdullāh ibn Mas`ūd.
`Alqamah said: ‘`Abdullāh ibn Mas`ūd resembled the Prophet (saws) in his
manners, conduct and habits.’”
Once Imām Abū Dāwūd was on board a ship when he heard a person on the shore
sneeze and say "Alhamdulillah" (all praise and gratitude belongs to
Allah alone). He hired a smaller boat for one dirham to row all the way to the
shore just to reply "Yarhamukallah" (may Allah have mercy on you) to
the person’s sneeze. On returning, when asked about his action, he answered:
“It is possible that the person who sneezed was one whose supplications are
readily accepted by Allah.” That night, everyone on the ship heard a voice in
their sleep calling out: “Oh people of the ship! Abū Dāwūd has purchased his
Jannah from Allah (swt) for one dirham.”
Imām Abū Dāwūd (raḥimahullāh) passed away on Friday,
16 Shawwal 275 AH, at the age of 73. He was buried in Basrah alongside Sufyān
at-Thawrī.
Teachers and
Students:
He studied under around 300 great
scholars of his time. Some of his famous teachers include Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Musaddad
ibn Musarhad, Yaḥya ibn Ma`īn, Qutaibah ibn Sa`īd,
Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaibah, `Uthmān ibn Abī Shaibah, `Ali ibn al-Madīnī,
`Abdullāh ibn Maslamah al-Qa`nabī, Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb, Abul Walīd aṭ-Ṭayālisī, Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm,
Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, and Abū Ja`far an-Nufailī.
He had numerous students from around the world. Among his more noted students
are his son Abū Bakr `Abdullāh ibn Abī Dāwūd, Imām at-Tirmidhī, Imām an-Nasā’ī,
Abū `Alī Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Lu’lu’ī, Abū Sa`īd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn
al-A`rābī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Bakr ibn Dāsah, Abū `Īsa
Isḥāq ibn Mūsa ar-Ramlī, Abū Bakr ibn Abi ad-Dunyā, Abu at-Tīb Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm
ibn al-Ashnānī al-Baghdādī, Abu al-Ḥasan `Alī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-`Abd
al-Anṣārī, Abū `Amr Aḥmad ibn `Alī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Baṣarī, and Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Imām Aḥmad was his
teacher, but has also narrated one ḥadīth from him, thus making him his
student as well.
The Sunan:
When Imām Abū
Dāwūd compiled his Sunan, Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbi stated: “Ḥadīth was made
supple (easy) for Abū Dāwūd just as ḥadīd (steel) was made supple for
the Prophet Dāwūd (as).” When the Sunan was read out to Ibn al-A`rābī, he
commented: “If a man had nothing with him except for the Book of Allah, and
this book (of Abū Dāwūd), he would need absolutely nothing else to go along
with them.”
In compiling the Sunan, Imām Abū Dāwūd included only those aḥādīth that fall
under topics of Fiqh. He included only one or two aḥādīth under each
chapter to make the collection concise and easy to derive fiqh.
He occasionally summarized long aḥādīth for brevity, so that the fiqh
didn't get lost in the long narration. In his Sunan, he included several aḥādīth that
are mursal in instances where he did not
know of a contradictory hadith with a connected chain. He did not include aḥādīth from those
considered matrūk al-ḥādīth (a narrator whose aḥādīth are
rejected). He included a munkar (mistaken or rejected) ḥādīth only when
there were no other ḥādīth in that topic. In such cases,
he clearly mentioned that the ḥādīth is munkar. He also included
some weak aḥādīth in his Sunan, clearly mentioning their weakness. Al Ḥāfiẓ `Abdullāh ibn
Mandah said: “Abū Dāwūd narrated weak chains of narration when he did not find
anything else for the topic, because to him, weak aḥādīth were
stronger than the opinions of men.” For more information on his methodology in
compiling his Sunan, see his letter to the people of Makkah.
According to his student, Ibn Dāsah, Imām Abū Dāwūd said: “I have written
500,000 aḥādīth of Allah’s Messenger (saws), from which I selected 4800 of
the most authentic aḥādīth for this book (the Sunan). Of
these, four aḥādīth are sufficient for preserving
one’s Deen:
- ‘Actions are judged according to
intentions.’
- ‘Of the beauty of a person’s Islam is his leaving
out that which does not concern him.’
- ‘None of you can be a perfect believer
until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself.’
- ‘The halal is clear and the haram is
clear, and between these two are unclear matters. Whoever saves himself
from these has saved his Deen.’”
His Other Works:
Other than his Sunan, Imām Abū Dāwūd’s famous works include
his letter to the people of Makkah explaining
the conditions he adhered to in compiling his Sunan, and Masā’il al-Imām Aḥmad. He also
authored At-Tafarrud, Al-Marāsīl, A`lām an-Nubuwwah, Az-Zuhd, and An-Nāsikh
wal-Mansūkh.
- [vtab]
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
- Volume 4
- Volume 5
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