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.