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Sunan Abi Dawud - ed. al-Arna'ut (Abu Dawud)
Section: Books of Sunnah
Book: Sunan Abi Dawud
Author: Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath al-Azdi al-Sijistani (202–275 AH)
Critical editor: Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut [d. 1438 AH] – Muhammad Kamil Qarah Balali
Publisher: Dar al-Risalah al-'Alamiyyah
Edition: First, 1430 AH – 2009 CE
Number of volumes: 7
[Book numbering corresponds to the printed edition]
Date of publication on al-Shamila: 11 Muharram 1435

Sunan Abi Dawud
Compiled by
The Imam, the Hafiz, Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath al-Azdi al-Sijistani
202 AH – 275 AH
Edited, textually verified, hadiths sourced, and annotated by
Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut and Muhammad Kamil Qarah Balali
Volume One
Dar al-Risalah al-'Alamiyyah

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Publisher’s Introduction

Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the master of the first and the last, our master Muhammad, the trustworthy Prophet, and upon all his family and companions. To proceed:

It is among the complete favors of God Almighty and His grace upon us in this flourishing and radiant institution that He has facilitated for us the publication of this great work, namely the book *Al-Sunan* by Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ashʿath al-Sijistani, may God Almighty have mercy on him, who was one of the eminent leading imams pointed to by fingers and whose virtue is proclaimed at all times.

This book of his is truly one of the foundational and principal works that remain the mainstay of scholars of knowledge for understanding the Prophetic traditions and the Muhammadan reports—those foundational sources that no specialized student of knowledge or researcher in the field of Islamic studies, whether in jurisprudence, hadith, or otherwise, can do without.

As is our custom—with success from God Almighty and His assistance—in relying on meticulous and collated manuscript sources in publishing the collections of the noble Sunnah, the verification office of our institution, headed by the venerable Shaykh, the hadith scholar Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾuṭ, may God preserve him, has compared the manuscript sources of this blessed work, meticulously edited and detailed its texts, explained the Prophetic hadiths and clarified their jurisprudence, traced them to the books of the Sunnah, and indicated their grading. May God reward them well and grant them abundant recompense.

As we undertake the burden of publishing this hadith encyclopedia, foremost among it that sublime volume, the *Musnad* of Imam Ahmad and the four Sunan books, we ask Him, glorified and exalted be He, to make this work of ours accepted and inscribed in our records on the Day of Judgment, and to take our hands in bringing forth more of what is beneficial and conclusive from the books of the foundational sources of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. Indeed, He, exalted be He, is the Guardian of success and right guidance.

It does not escape me, in conclusion, to extend my deepest gratitude to the esteemed father, Professor Radwan Da'bul, for the support, backing, counsel, and guidance he continually bestows upon us, which aids us in achieving our aspirations. I ask God to preserve him as a treasure for us.

I also record my profound thanks to the virtuous scholar, the beloved Shaykh Muhammad ibn Nasir al-'Ajmi, who favored us with the oldest of the manuscript copies that came into our possession, namely the Princeton University copy and several other copies. May God reward him with the best of rewards.

And all praise is due to God in the first and the last, and He is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.

Mu'adh Radwan Da'bul
General Director

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Translation of Imam Abu Dawud al-Sijistani

* His name, lineage, birthplace, and country:

He is the Imam, the Shaykh of the Sunnah, the foremost of the hadith memorizers, Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath ibn Ishaq ibn Bashir ibn Shaddad. This is the lineage given by his two students Ibn Dasa and Abu 'Ubayd al-Ajuri — and added to his lineage were Ibn Hibban, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn Makula, al-Sam'ani, Abu Tahir al-Silafi, al-Hazimi, Ibn Khallikan, al-Qasim al-Tujibi, Taj al-Din al-Subki, and Ibn Taghribirdi — ibn 'Amr ibn 'Imran, al-Azdi al-Sijistani(1).

Ibn Abi Hatim said: Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath ibn Shaddad ibn 'Amr ibn 'Amir(2).

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(1) Ibn Hibban in "al-Thiqat" 8/282, al-Khatib in "Tarikh Baghdad" 9/55, Abu Tahir al-Silafi in his introduction to "Sharh al-Khattabi" 4/359, Ibn Makula in "al-Ikmal" 1/295, al-Sam'ani in "al-Ansab" 7/46, al-Nawawi in "Tahdhib al-Asma' wa al-Lughat" 2/225, al-Hazimi in "Shurut al-A'immah al-Khamsah" p. 21, Ibn Khallikan in "Wafayat al-A'yan" 2/404, al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi in his "Barnamaj" p. 94, Taj al-Din al-Subki in "Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyyah al-Kubra" 2/293, and Ibn Taghribirdi in "al-Nujum al-Zahirah" 3/73.
(2) Al-Mizzi in "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 11/355, and al-Dhahabi in "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 13/203.

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Hāshimī said: Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath ibn Bishr ibn Shaddād (1).

Al-Azdī: a nisba referring to al-Azd ibn al-Ghawth ibn Nabt ibn Mālik ibn Zayd ibn Kahlān ibn Sabaʾ ibn Yashjub ibn Yaʿrub ibn Qaḥṭān, who was the ancestor of a tribe in Yemen (2).

Al-Sijistānī: a nisba referring to Sijistān, with kasra on the unpointed sīn and on the jīm, and sukūn on the second sīn, followed by a tāʾ dotted with two dots above: it is a region located now approximately in the south and southwest of Afghanistan, extending into some areas of eastern Iran to its south. It includes the delta of the Helmand River and other numerous rivers descending from the towering mountains of Afghanistan above Kabul and Ghazna toward the southwest, and in this location is the city of Qandahār (3).

This region is also called Sīstān, which goes back to its Persian name: Sakastān. It is now known as Sīstān, and in Persian it is also called Nīmrūz, meaning "half day," or "the southern land." It is said that this region was only so named because of its location south of Khurāsān (4).

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(1) The two previously cited references.
(2) Ibn al-Kalbī in "Jamharat al-Nasab" 2/363, Ibn Ḥazm in "Jamharat Ansāb al-ʿArab" p. 330, al-Samʿānī 1/197, Ibn al-Athīr in "al-Lubāb fī Tahdhīb al-Ansāb" 1/46, and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Kattānī in (al-Risāla al-Mustatrafa) p. 11.
(3) G. Le Strange in "The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate" pp. 20 and 372.
(4) Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān in "al-Ḥiṭṭa" p. 449, and G. Le Strange in (The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate) p. 372.

The attribution to it as well is: Sijzī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said: Thus Abū ʿAwānah al-Isfarāyīnī attributes Abū Dāwūd—meaning the author—saying: al-Sijzī. And to it is attributed the transmitter of his time, Abū al-Waqt al-Sijzī(1).

There has been disagreement over the year in which Sijistān was conquered. Sayf ibn ʿUmar mentioned in *al-Futūḥ* that its conquest was in the year eighteen, during the caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may God be pleased with him, and that its conquest was undertaken by ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAmr al-Tamīmī and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmayr al-Ashjaʿī(2).

As for Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ and al-Balādhurī—and Ibn Ḥibbān and Ibn Ḥazm followed them—they held that its conquest was during the caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may God be pleased with him, and that its conquest was undertaken by al-Rabīʿ ibn Ziyād al-Ḥārithī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī confined himself to this view in *Duwal al-Islām*(3).

The two views may be reconciled by saying that the beginning of the conquest of Sijistān was in the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and the wars continued until its conquest was completed in the year thirty, during the caliphate of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. This is because the province of Sijistān was greater than Khurāsān, larger in area, and the more rugged of the two provinces. Indeed, al-Dhahabī recorded in the events of the year twenty-three the opening of Sijistān, then mentioned in the year thirty that Ibn ʿĀmir—

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(1) Al-Dhahabī, *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 13/221.
(2) Al-Ṭabarī, *Tārīkh* 4/94.
(3) Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ, *Tārīkh*, p. 164; al-Balādhurī, *Futūḥ al-Buldān*, p. 385; Ibn Ḥibbān, *al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah wa-Akhbār al-Khulafāʾ*, p. 507; Ibn Ḥazm, *Jawāmiʿ al-Sīrah*, p. 348; al-Dhahabī, *Duwal al-Islām*, p. 22.

Ziyad ibn al-Rabi' was sent to Sijistan, and he conquered Zaliq, Sharwadh, and Nasharudh. Then he made peace with the people of the city of Zaranj.(1)

Ibn al-Athir holds the view that the conquest of Sijistan was completed during the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, but its people broke the covenant after him, so al-Rabi' ibn Ziyad al-Harithi reconquered it during the time of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan in the year thirty-one.(2) This makes clear that its repeated conquest was the result of its people breaking the covenant, and Allah Almighty knows best.

Imam Abu Dawud was born, according to what he himself said, in the year two hundred and two.(3) His birth was in Sijistan.(4)

He was, as previously mentioned, an Arab from the Yemeni tribe of Azd. One of his ancestors had merely ended up in that land during the days of the Islamic conquest and settled there. The Muslims in the three centuries attested to as the best on the tongue of the best of creation held that jihad in the path of Allah was an obligatory duty for spreading Islam and establishing it throughout all regions. Thus they would settle in the lands they conquered, make them a permanent homeland, intermarry with their people, and spend their lives calling to Allah and teaching Arabic, the Qur'an, and the Sunnah to those among them who entered Islam. They were, moreover,--------------------------------------------
(1) Al-Tabari in his "History" 4/181, and al-Dhahabi in "The History of Islam," section on the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, pp. 329-330.
(2) Ibn al-Athir in "Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh" 3/128.
(3) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in "Tarikh Baghdad" 9/56, and Ibn 'Asakir in "Tarikh Dimashq" 7/folio 546.
(4) Al-Dhahabi in "Al-Siyar" 13/217.

In addition to that, they undertook the protection of the frontier posts to repel any attack by the enemy in the adjoining lands, guarding the borders of the Islamic state from being breached on their side, and Sijistan was one of those frontier posts.

His era, his scholarly career, his travels, and his teachers:
Imam Abu Dawud grew up and lived in an era teeming with scholars of various specializations, especially in the field of hadith and transmission, which reached its zenith in the third century AH. In it there were a great number of eminent hadith masters whose deeds history has recorded for us, whose narrations the compilations they authored have preserved for us, and the Islamic treasury in that century was filled with distinguished works that no student of knowledge can do without whatsoever.

At that time, travel in pursuit of knowledge was widespread, and rarely would you find a student of knowledge who did not leave his homeland and birthplace to journey to the various Islamic lands that were centers of learning and scholars, desiring to meet the great scholars who were known for their preservation and transmission of hadith, frequenting their circles to learn from them, benefit from them, and exhaust what was authentically transmitted from them.

Such were the likes of the imams Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH), Yahya ibn Ma'in (d. 233 AH), Ibn Abi Shaybah (d. 235 AH), Ibn Rahawayh (d. 238 AH), Abu Hatim (d. 250 AH) and Abu Zur'ah (d. 264 AH) al-Raziyyan, al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH), al-Dhuhli (d. 258 AH), and Muslim (d. 261 AH), and others besides these, who were the objects of students of knowledge's hearts' desire and their destination.

Imam Abu Dawud was among those who preferred traveling in pursuit of knowledge over remaining in their homelands. After receiving the fundamentals of the sciences at an early age and writing down hadith in his own town of Sijistan and the surrounding regions, his sights extended to Baghdad, the capital of the Islamic state at that time, which was among the centers of learning. Despite the great distance and vast expanses, he traveled there in the prime of his youth, not yet having passed eighteen years of age. He reported about himself that he arrived in Baghdad in the year two hundred and twenty (220 AH).

Abu Abdullah al-Hakim said: Abu Dawud was the imam of the people of hadith in his time without dispute. He heard (hadith) in Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, the two Iraqs, and Khurasan. He wrote (hadith) in Khurasan before his departure to Iraq, in his own town and in Herat, and he wrote in Baghlan from Qutaybah (ibn Sa'id), and in Rayy from Ibrahim ibn Musa... He had also written earlier in Nishapur.

Al-Hafiz al-Mizzi said: Abu Dawud was one of those who traveled and journeyed extensively, collected and compiled, and wrote from the people of Iraq, Khurasan, Syria, Egypt, the Jazirah, the Hijaz, and others.

Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi said, commenting on Abu Dawud's statement: "I entered Basra while they were saying: 'Yesterday Uthman ibn al-Haytham the mu'adhdhin died,' so I heard from Abu..."

ʿUmar al-Ḍarīr [held] a single sitting. Al-Dhahabī said: He died in Shaʿbān of the year twenty [two hundred], and ʿUthmān died a month before him.¹

Then al-Dhahabī said: He heard [ḥadīth] in Mecca from al-Qaʿnabī, Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb, and a group in Mecca in the year twenty, during the days of the Pilgrimage.

He heard from Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾ, Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī, Mūsā ibn Ismāʿīl, and their peers in Baṣra.

Then he heard in Kūfa from al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Būrānī, Aḥmad ibn Yūnus al-Yarbūʿī, and a group; he heard from Abū Tawba al-Rabīʿ ibn Nāfiʿ in Aleppo; from Abū Jaʿfar al-Nufaylī, Aḥmad ibn Abī Shuʿayb, and several in Ḥarrān; from Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ, Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, and many in Ḥimṣ; from Ṣafwān ibn Ṣāliḥ and Hishām ibn ʿAmmār in Damascus; from Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh and his peers in Khurāsān; from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and his peers in Baghdad; from Qutayba ibn Saʿīd in Balkh; and from Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ and many in Egypt.²

Among the most important of his teachers whom he met and from whom he took the science of ḥadīth were Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, as al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī states.³ Here follows their brief biography. As for Imam Aḥmad, he is:

A. The Imam, the ḥāfiẓ, the Shaykh of Islam, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal ibn Hilāl ibn Asad al-Dhuhlī al-Shaybānī. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim narrated from him.

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¹ *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 13/204, and *Tārīkh al-Islām*, deaths 261–280.
² *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 13/204–205.
³ *Tahdhīb al-Kamāl* 11/359.

He memorized one million hadiths. Al-Shafi‘i said of him: “I left Baghdad, and I left behind no one in it more virtuous, more knowledgeable, or more discerning in jurisprudence than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.”

Abu ‘Ubayd said: “Knowledge culminated in four men, the most learned of whom was Ahmad.” Abu Thawr said: “Ahmad was more knowledgeable”—or he said: “more discerning in jurisprudence”—“than al-Thawri.” He died in the year two hundred and forty-one, at the age of seventy-seven.¹

Abu Dawud recorded from him questions in a book comprising jurisprudence, hadith, and the science of narrators, which we shall describe, God willing.

2 — The Imam, the memorizer, the eminent scholar, Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Ma‘in al-Murri, client of the Banu Murra, of Baghdad, teacher of al-Bukhari and Muslim. He wrote with his own hands one million hadiths. Ibn al-Madini said: “The knowledge of the people culminated in Yahya ibn Ma‘in.” Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: “Yahya ibn Ma‘in is the most knowledgeable among us concerning narrators.” He died in the year two hundred and thirty-three in Medina.²

Among his most famous teachers in transmission, from whom he narrated extensively and whose narrations he recorded in his book “al-Sunan”:

1 — ‘Abdullah ibn Maslama ibn Qa‘nab al-Qa‘nabi al-Basri, the Imam, the reliable, the exemplar. Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Dhuhli narrated from him. Abu Zur‘a said: “I have not written from anyone more venerable in my eyes than al-Qa‘nabi.” Abu Hatim al-Razi said: “Trustworthy, an authority.”

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¹ Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi in “Tabaqat ‘Ulama’ al-Hadith” 2/81–83, and al-Dhahabi in “Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’” 11/177–358.
² Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi in “Tabaqat ‘Ulama’ al-Hadith” 2/79–81, and al-Dhahabi in “Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’” 11/71–96.

I have not seen anyone more devout than him. Al-Khuraybī gave him precedence over Mālik. He died in the year two hundred and twenty-one. Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in the *Sunan* approximately three hundred and thirteen hadiths.

2. Musaddad ibn Musarhad ibn Musarbal al-Asadī al-Baṣrī, the imam, the ḥāfiẓ, the authoritative proof. Al-Bukhārī, al-Dhuhlī, Abū Ḥātim, and Abū Zurʿah al-Rāziyān narrated from him. Abū Zurʿah said: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said to me: Musaddad is truthful, so whatever you have written from him, do not go beyond it. Abū Ḥātim, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Maʿīn declared him trustworthy. He died in the year two hundred and twenty-eight. Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in the *Sunan* approximately five hundred and forty-one hadiths.

3. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Hudhalī al-Khallāl al-Ḥulwānī (and Ḥulwān is a town on the side of the mountains near Baghdad), resident of Mecca and one who stayed there in devotional retreat, the imam, the ḥāfiẓ, the truthful. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim narrated from him. Al-Nasāʾī, Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah, and al-Khaṭīb declared him trustworthy. Al-Khalīlī said: He was likened to Aḥmad in his demeanor and piety. He died in the year two hundred and forty-two. Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in the *Sunan* approximately one hundred and twenty-nine hadiths.

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(1) Al-Mizzī in *Tahdhīb al-Kamāl* 16/136–143, and al-Dhahabī in *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 10/257–264.
(2) Al-Mizzī in *Tahdhīb al-Kamāl* 27/443–448, and al-Dhahabī in *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 10/591–595.
(3) Al-Mizzī in *Tahdhīb al-Kamāl* 6/259–263, and Ibn Ḥajar in *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb* 1/406.

4 - Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd ibn Jamīl al-Thaqafī, their freed slave, al-Balkhī (and Balkh is among the foremost cities of Afghanistan, in its northern part): the muḥaddith, the imam, the trustworthy, the transmitter of Islam. Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, al-Bukhārī, and Muslim narrated from him. Abū Ḥātim, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Maʿīn declared him trustworthy. Aḥmad ibn Sayyār al-Marwazī said: He was a follower of the Sunnah and the community. He died in the year two hundred and forty (1). Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in "al-Sunan" approximately one hundred and eighty-one ḥadīths.

5 - Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr ibn Shuʿbah al-Khurāsānī, then al-Balkhī, resident in Mecca: the imam, the ḥāfiẓ, the elder of the Sacred Sanctuary. Muslim narrated from him, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated from him while he was alive. Abū Ḥātim, Ibn Khirāsh, Ibn Numayr, Ibn Saʿd, and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Ṣāʿiqah declared him trustworthy. Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal magnified his standing. Ḥarb ibn Ismāʿīl said: He dictated to us nearly ten thousand ḥadīths from memory. Thereafter he composed the books. He died in the year two hundred and twenty-seven, according to the correct view (2). Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in "al-Sunan" approximately forty-six ḥadīths.

6 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī ibn Muṣʿab al-Dārimī al-Kūfī: the imam, the proof, the exemplar. Al-Bukhārī narrated from him in "Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād," as did Muslim and the rest of the four. Al-Nasāʾī declared him trustworthy, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal used to command that one write from him. He was

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(1) Al-Mizzī in "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl" 23/523–537, and al-Dhahabī in "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 11/13–24.
(2) Al-Mizzī in "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl" 11/77–82, and al-Dhahabī in "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 10/586–590.

Waki' held him in high esteem. He died in the year two hundred and forty-three. Approximately sixty-six hadiths have been narrated from him in the "Sunan."

7 - Muhammad ibn al-'Ala' ibn Kurayb, Abu Kurayb al-Hamdani al-Kufi, the memorizer, the trustworthy, the imam. The group (of hadith scholars) narrated from him, as did al-Dhuhali, Abu Zur'ah, and Abu Hatim. Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah ibn Numayr said: "There is no one in Iraq with more hadith than Abu Kurayb, nor anyone more knowledgeable about the hadith of our town than him." Abu al-'Abbas ibn 'Uqdah said: "Three hundred thousand hadiths were brought forth by Abu Kurayb in Kufah." He died in the year two hundred and forty-eight. Abu Dawud narrated from him in the "Sunan" approximately seventy-seven hadiths.

8 - Muhammad ibn Kathir al-'Abdi al-Basri, the memorizer, the trustworthy. Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi said: "He was a man of hadith and knowledge. He heard (hadith) in Basrah and Kufah, and his life was prolonged, and his hadith are included in all the Sahih collections." Al-Bukhari narrated from him in his "Sahih," and al-Dhuhali, Abu Hatim, and Abu Zur'ah also narrated from him. He died in the year two hundred and twenty-three. Abu Dawud narrated from him in the "Sunan" approximately one hundred and thirty-one hadiths.

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(1) Al-Mizzi in "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 30/311-313, and al-Dhahabi in "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 11/465-466.
(2) Al-Mizzi in "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 26/243-248, and al-Dhahabi in "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 11/394-398.
(3) Al-Mizzi in "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 26/334-336, and al-Dhahabi in "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 10/383-384.

9 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Nufayl al-Nufaylī al-Ḥarrānī (and Ḥarrān is located in northern Syria, and it is among the lands of the Jazīrah; there were and from it came a group of virtuous people and scholars in every field, and it is among the abodes of Muḍar. It has a history composed by Abū ʿArūbah al-Ḥusayn ibn Abī Maʿshar al-Ḥarrānī, the ḥāfiẓ, in which he mentioned a group of the people of the Jazīrah, and he named it "The History of the Jazīrians." The Muslims opened it during the caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb at the hands of ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm; it was taken by treaty in the year 18 AH.) The imām, the ḥāfiẓ, the scholar of the Jazīrah. Abū Ḥātim, Abū Zurʿah, and al-Dhuhlī narrated from him. Abū Dāwūd said: "I have not seen anyone with a stronger memory than al-Nufaylī," and he said: "Aḥmad wrote from him while he was a young man." Abū Ḥātim, al-Nasāʾī, and al-Dāraquṭnī declared him trustworthy. He died in the year two hundred and thirty-four. And Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in the "Sunan" approximately one hundred and thirty-five ḥadīths.

10 - ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah al-ʿAbsī, their client, the Kūfan. The imām, the ḥāfiẓ, the exegete, the author of works. Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and Abū Ḥātim narrated from him, and Ibn Maʿīn declared him trustworthy. Abū Ḥātim said: "He was greater than Abū Bakr" — meaning his brother, the author of "al-Muṣannaf" and "al-Musnad" — and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal praised him well. He died in the year two hundred and thirty-nine. Abū Dāwūd narrated from him in the "Sunan" approximately three hundred and eleven ḥadīths.

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(1) al-Mizzī in "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl" 16/88–92, and al-Dhahabī in "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 10/634–637.
(2) al-Mizzī in "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl" 19/478–487, and al-Dhahabī in "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 11/151–153.

11 - Muslim ibn Ibrahim al-Azdi al-Farahidi, their client, of Basra: the imam, the memorizer, the trustworthy, the authority of Basra in hadith transmission. Al-Bukhari narrated from him, as did Ibn Ma'in, al-Dhuhli, Abu Zur'ah, and Abu Hatim. Abu Dawud said: He wrote from nearly a thousand shaykhs. Ibn Ma'in and Abu Hatim declared him trustworthy. He died in the year two hundred and twenty-two (AH). Abu Dawud narrated from him in the "Sunan" approximately one hundred and eight hadiths.

Praise of the scholars of knowledge upon him:
It was not unusual for one who studied under those eminent scholars of knowledge to reach a lofty and noble rank, making him worthy of being pointed to by the finger, and of his merit being proclaimed in every place. This was in addition to what he possessed of keen intelligence, a strong memory, and a brilliant mind, along with his sincerity to Allah the Exalted. For no matter how high a rank a person reaches in knowledge, it is impossible for Allah, glorified and exalted be He, to bless him in it, and for him to find acceptance and praise, except through his sincerity to Allah, mighty and majestic. All of this was realized in Imam Abu Dawud, may Allah have mercy on him, until the scholars of his time acknowledged his precedence, especially in the science of hadith, for he devoted his efforts to it, and it became his dominant concern.

Abu Bakr al-Khallal said: Abu Dawud is the foremost imam of his time, a man whom no one in his time preceded in his knowledge of the derivation of the sciences and his insight into their proper places. He was a scrupulous, eminent man. Ahmad ibn Hanbal heard from him a single hadith, and Abu Dawud--------------------------------------------
(1) Al-Mizzi in "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 27/487-492, and al-Dhahabi in "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 10/314-318.

He mentioned him. Ibrahim al-Asbahani and Abu Bakr ibn Sadaqah would elevate his standing and mention him in terms they did not use for anyone else of his time.

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yasin al-Harawi said: He was one of the preservers of Islam regarding the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, its knowledge, its defects, and its chains of transmission, at the highest levels of asceticism, chastity, righteousness, and piety, among the horsemen of hadith.

Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Saghani and Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Harbi said, when Abu Dawud compiled his book "al-Sunan": Hadith was made pliable for Abu Dawud just as iron was made pliable for Dawud, peace be upon him.

Muhammad ibn Makhlad said: Abu Dawud was capable of reviewing one hundred thousand hadiths from memory. When he compiled the book "al-Sunan" and read it to the people, his book became for the people of hadith like the Qur'an, which they followed and did not contradict. The scholars of his time acknowledged his mastery of memorization and his preeminence in it.

Musa ibn Harun al-Hafiz said: Abu Dawud was created in this world for hadith, and in the Hereafter for Paradise.
And he said: I have not seen anyone more virtuous than Abu Dawud.

‘Allān ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad said: I heard Abū Dāwūd—and he was among the horsemen of this field.

Abū Ḥātim ibn Ḥibbān and al-Samʿānī said: Abū Dāwūd was one of the leading imams of the world in jurisprudence, knowledge, memorization, piety, scrupulousness, and precision. He collected, compiled, defended the Sunan, and suppressed those who opposed them and adopted what was contrary to them.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mandah said: Those who produced the authentic collections, distinguished the sound from the defective, and error from correctness are Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī, and after them Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath ibn Isḥāq al-Sijistānī, and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī.

Al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Abū Dāwūd was the imam of the people of hadith in his time without dispute. He heard (hadith) in Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, the two Iraqs, and Khurāsān. He wrote in Khurāsān before his departure to Iraq, in his own town and in Herāt; he wrote in Baghlān from Qutaybah, and in al-Rayy from Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā—though the highest of his chains are from al-Qaʿnabī, Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, and Mūsā ibn Ismāʿīl—and in Syria from Abū Tawbah al-Rabīʿ ibn Nāfiʿ and Ḥaywah ibn Shurayḥ al-Ḥimṣī. He had written earlier in Nīsābūr, then traveled with his son Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd to Khurāsān.