Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī, 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

A Persian of Arab descent, 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'i. Imam Abu Dawud has stated: "From this book of mine four Hadith are sufficient for an intelligent and insightful person. They are:

Works

Principal among his twenty-one works are: