Author Bio

Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath ibn Isḥāq ibn Bashīr ibn Shaddād ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿImrān al-Azdī as-Sijistānī was born in 202 AH in Sijistan — a province of Khurasan (modern-day Iran and Afghanistan). He was from the noble Azd tribe of Yemen.

He began traveling to seek aḥādīth at a young age, reaching Baghdad in 220 AH when he was only 18. He meticulously verified the reliability of narrators before accepting their reports. His journeys in pursuit of knowledge took him across Khurasan, Iraq, Hijaz, Sham, Egypt, and Nishapur. In addition to being a muḥaddith, he was also a prominent faqīh who studied extensively under Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

His Virtues

Imām an-Nawawī said: “All scholars are unanimous regarding the rank and virtue of Abū Dāwūd. He was praised for his perfect memory, deep knowledge, intellect, and piety — making him one of the greatest scholars of his time.”

Adh-Dhahabī said: “Abū Dāwūd was among the greatest scholars. It has been said that Abū Dāwūd resembled Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal in manner and conduct, who in turn resembled Wakīʿ, then Sufyān, then Manṣūr, then Ibrāhīm an-Nakhaʿī, then ʿAlqamah, then ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd — who most resembled the Prophet (ﷺ) in character and behavior.”

A beautiful story illustrates his humility: once while aboard a ship, Abū Dāwūd heard someone on shore sneeze and say “Alḥamdulillāh.” He hired a small boat for one dirham, rowed ashore, and said “Yarḥamukallāh” to the man. When asked why, he replied, “Perhaps that man’s supplication is accepted by Allah.” That night, people on the ship heard a voice saying, “O people of the ship, Abū Dāwūd has purchased his Jannah for one dirham.”

Imām Abū Dāwūd (raḥimahullāh) passed away on Friday, 16 Shawwāl 275 AH, at the age of 73, and was buried in Basrah beside Sufyān ath-Thawrī.

Teachers and Students

He studied under around 300 great scholars, including Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Musaddad ibn Musarhad, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Qutaibah ibn Saʿīd, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaibah, ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaibah, ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, ʿAbdullāh ibn Maslamah al-Qaʿnabī, Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb, Abul Walīd aṭ-Ṭayālisī, Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, and Abū Jaʿfar an-Nufailī.

Among his renowned students were his son Abū Bakr ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Dāwūd, Imām at-Tirmidhī, Imām an-Nasā’ī, Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Lu’lu’ī, Abū Saʿīd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Aʿrābī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Bakr ibn Dāsah, and Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal — who was both his teacher and, in one narration, his student.

The Sunan

When Imām Abū Dāwūd compiled his Sunan, Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbi remarked: “Ḥadīth was made as supple for Abū Dāwūd as iron was made for Prophet Dāwūd (عليه السلام).” Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: “If a man possessed only the Book of Allah and this Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, he would need nothing else.”

Imām Abū Dāwūd included only aḥādīth related to fiqh (jurisprudence), usually one or two per topic, for clarity and conciseness. He sometimes summarized long narrations to focus on legal rulings. He excluded narrations from those considered matrūk al-ḥadīth (rejected narrators) and marked munkar (defective) or weak narrations clearly, using them only when no stronger alternatives existed.

According to his student Ibn Dāsah, Imām Abū Dāwūd said: “I have written 500,000 aḥādīth of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), from which I selected 4,800 for this book. Four aḥādīth alone are sufficient to preserve one’s Dīn.”

1. “Actions are judged according to intentions.”
2. “Of the beauty of a person’s Islam is leaving what does not concern him.”
3. “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
4. “The ḥalāl is clear and the ḥarām is clear, and between them are doubtful matters; whoever avoids them safeguards his Dīn.”

His Other Works

Beyond his Sunan, Imām Abū Dāwūd authored several valuable works, including his Letter to the People of Makkah, explaining the principles he followed in compiling his Sunan. Other notable works include: Masā’il al-Imām Aḥmad, At-Tafarrud, Al-Marāsīl, Aʿlām an-Nubuwwah, Az-Zuhd, and An-Nāsikh wal-Mansūkh.