He is the author of the hadith collection entitled "Sunan." His full name is Sulaymān b. al-Ashʿath b. Isḥāq b. Bashīr b. Shaddād b. Yaḥyā b. ʿImrān Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī.
He is one of the hadith imams who traveled to various lands to learn and collect hadith. He gathered and classified hadith. He transmitted them with sound chains of narration and composed works. He received lessons from hadith scholars in many cities such as al-Shām (Greater Syria), Egypt, al-Jazīra, Iraq, Khurāsān, and many other cities. He listened to hadith. Among the scholars, he possesses the famous "Sunan," which circulated from hand to hand. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī said regarding his Sunan: "A mujtahid, by knowing this work, will have learned and acquired a sufficient amount of the Prophet's hadith." A group including such figures as Abū Bakr ʿAbdullāh, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nasāʾī, and Aḥmad b. Sulaymān al-Najjār narrated hadith from him. Aḥmad b. Sulaymān al-Najjār was the last person in the world to narrate from him.
Abū Dāwūd lived in Basra. He came to Baghdad several times. There, he wrote his book entitled Sunan. According to another narration, he classified this book in Baghdad, presented it to Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, who approved of the book and considered it an accepted work.
Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī narrated that Abū Dāwūd said:
"I wrote down 500,000 hadiths of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). From these, I selected those which I included in my book entitled Sunan. In this book, I compiled 4,800 hadiths. I included in my book those hadiths that are sound (ṣaḥīḥ), or resemble and are close to the sound ones. For a person's religion, the following four hadiths are sufficient:
'Actions are only by intentions.'
'It is from a person's excellence in Islam that he leaves what does not concern him.'
'None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.'
'The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between the two are ambiguous matters.'
Abū Bakr al-Khallāl said: "Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān b. al-Ashʿath al-
TOyükTslām history
al-Sijistānī was an imam who preceded others in his time. In extracting knowledge from its sources and placing it in its proper place, no one could surpass him. He was a person of taqwa (God-consciousness). Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal listened to a hadith from him. Abū Dāwūd remembered that hadith. Abū Bakr al-Iṣfahānī and Abū Bakr b. Ṣadūqah would speak of his lofty status and would mention for him virtues that they did not mention for anyone else of their time."
I say: The hadith that Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal heard from Abū Dāwūd is the following hadith, which is transmitted via the route of Ḥammād b. Salamah from Abū Maʿshar al-Dārimī's father:
"They asked the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) about the ruling of the ʿatīra sacrifice, and he considered it good and commendable."
Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī and others said: "Just as iron was softened for the Prophet Dāwūd, so too was hadith softened for Abū Dāwūd."
Another said: "Abū Dāwūd is one of the hadith memorisers (ḥuffāẓ) of Islam. He was among those who knew well the hidden defects (ʿilal) and chains of transmission (isnād) of hadith. He was at the highest level of worship, chastity, righteousness, and taqwa (God-consciousness). He was among the foremost great scholars of hadith."
Another said: "ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd, in his conduct and actions, resembled the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Alqama resembled Ibn Masʿūd in this regard. Ibrāhīm resembled Alqama, Manṣūr resembled Ibrāhīm, Sufyān resembled Manṣūr, Wakīʿ resembled Sufyān, Aḥmad resembled Wakīʿ, and Abū Dāwūd resembled Aḥmad (b. Ḥanbal)."
Muḥammad b. Bakr b. ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: "One sleeve of Abū Dāwūd's garment was wide, and the other was narrow. When he was asked, 'What is this, may Allah have mercy on you?' he would reply: 'This wide sleeve is for books; there is no need for the other sleeve to be wide.'"
Abū Dāwūd was born in the year 202 of the Hijra. He died in Basra on a Friday, fourteen days before the end of the month of Shawwāl in the year 275 of the Hijra, at the age of seventy-three. He was buried next to the grave of Sufyān al-Thawrī. We have recounted his biography and transmitted the praises of the scholars for him in our work entitled "al-Takmila."
In this year, the poet Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Ibrāhīm b. Anbas al-Dārjūrī died. He was a pious person with many fine qualities. He was a satirist. One of his beautiful poems is as follows:
How many hopelessly ill patients are there who live on for a while after the death of the doctor who treated them and the visitor who visited them.
A trap is set for the bird, but it quickly escapes and is saved. Calamity descends upon the hunter's bait!