During his “Questions” (1) addressed to Abu Dawud, he was a constant companion of his for a long period. The scholars relied on these “Questions” of his and transmitted them in their books on the biographies of narrators.

Among them is al-Husayn ibn Idris al-Ansari al-Harawi, whom al-Dhahabi described by saying: the memorizer, the trustworthy. Al-Daraqutni declared him trustworthy. He died in the year three hundred and one (2).

We say: al-Khatib in his “History” frequently transmitted from him, reporting from Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, from his “Questions” to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal concerning narrators. He holds a high rank among the rest of Abu Dawud’s students, for he shared a number of his teachers with him, such as Sa’id ibn Mansur and ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah.

As for his students who took hadith from him, hadith after hadith and narration after narration, and who were not numerous, they are many; the most famous of them are:

1. Abu ‘Isa Muhammad ibn ‘Isa ibn Sawrah al-Tirmidhi, the imam, the memorizer, the critic, the jurist, author of “al-Jami’.” We have devoted a comprehensive biography to him in our introduction to his book “al-Jami’ al-Kabir” in our critical edition, so refer to it there.

2. Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb ibn ‘Ali al-Nasa’i, the imam, the memorizer, the critic, the insightful, author of the well-known “Sunan.” He narrated from Abu Dawud in “al-Kuna” and named him by his name, saying: Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ath. Al-Nasa’i also narrated in his “Sunan” from Abu Dawud by his kunyah, and the two memorizers al-Mizzi and al-Dhahabi considered it most likely that he is al-Sijistani.

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(1) The third part of it has been printed, edited by Muhammad ‘Ali Qasim al-‘Umari.
(2) Al-Dhahabi in “Tadhkirat al-Huffaz” 2/695–696.