📘 সুনানে আবু দাউদ - তাহকীক আরনাউত (আবু দাউদ - মৃত্যু 275 হিজরী)

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said of him: “The Shaykh, the Imām, the scholar, the muḥaddith, the man of letters, the genealogist. His house was a refuge for students of knowledge, and in the latter part of his life he turned wholeheartedly to ḥadīth. He died in the year six hundred and thirty.”(1)

d) Ṣafī al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd ibn ʿAlī ibn Wahbān al-Jazarī — we have not found any biographical notice on him.

e) Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Sarāyā al-Baladī — he is the son of ʿAlī ibn Naṣr ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Mawṣilī al-Muʿaddal. He was born in the year five hundred and twenty-nine. Ibn Nuqṭah said: “He heard Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Musnad al-Shāfiʿī, and his hearing is sound.” He died in Mosul in the year six hundred and eleven.(2)

f) Abū Ghālib Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Māwardī — his biographical notice has already been given in the biographies of the men of the chain of this copy.

g) And the writer of this audition certificate, ʿAlī ibn … ibn Maḥmūd … — we have not been able to identify him.

Secondly: The second audition certificate:

a) Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān ibn Abī Bakr ibn Jaldak al-Qalānisī al-Mawṣilī al-Shāfiʿī — al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī described him, saying: “The virtuous Shaykh; he possessed refinement and composed fine poetry. He studied jurisprudence in Baghdad under the Imām Abū al-Qāsim Yaḥyā ibn ʿAlī, known as Ibn Faḍlān.” He died in the year five hundred and ninety-two.(3)

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(1) The aforementioned reference, 22/353–356.
(2) Ibn Nuqṭah al-Baghdādī in “al-Taqyīd,” biography (122), and al-Mundhirī in “al-Takmilah,” biography (1344).
(3) Al-Mundhirī in “al-Takmilah,” biography (370).

B. Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Qāhir ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Mihrān al-Jazarī al-Shāfiʿī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī described him, saying: "The jurist." He studied jurisprudence in Baghdad according to the school of Imām al-Shāfiʿī, may God be pleased with him, and acquired a good portion of the school's doctrine, legal principles, and juristic disagreement. He heard much [ḥadīth] there, accompanied al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḥāzimī, read his books to him, and wrote from him. He narrated ḥadīth in his own town, and death cut him short while still a young man. He died in the year six hundred and nine (609 AH).

C. Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥamadiyyah al-Bayyiʿ al-ʿUkbarī: He is Abū Ṭāhir al-Baghdādī. He was born in the year five hundred and ten (510 AH). Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī described him, saying: "The most venerable shaykh." Ibn Nuqṭah said: "His hearing [of ḥadīth] is sound." He died in the year five hundred and ninety-two (592 AH).

D. Abū al-Saʿādāt Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad al-Mutawakkilī: He is the son of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Abī ʿĪsā ibn al-Mutawakkil ibn al-Muʿtaṣim ibn al-Rashīd ibn al-Mahdī ibn al-Manṣūr. Imām Ibn al-Jawzī said: "His hearing [of ḥadīth] was sound, and I heard ḥadīth from him, and he wrote me an ijāzah in his own hand, in which he mentioned his lineage as I have stated it." He was born in the year five hundred and forty-one (541 AH). Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī described him, saying: "A righteous, good shaykh. He completed the tarāwīḥ prayer on the night of the twenty-seventh [of Ramaḍān], then returned to his home, fell from the roof, and died in the year five hundred and twenty-one (521 AH)."

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(1) The aforementioned source, biography no. (1258).
(2) Al-Mundhirī in "al-Takmilah," biography no. (316), Ibn Nuqṭah al-Baghdādī in "al-Taqyīd," biography no. (222), and al-Dhahabī in "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" (21/273–274).
(3) Ibn al-Jawzī in "Mashyakhatuhu," the sixth shaykh, and in "al-Muntaẓam" 10/7, and al-Dhahabī in "al-ʿIbar" 2/415.

The Fifth Copy:
It is a photographic reproduction of the original manuscript located at Princeton University in America, in the Yahuda Collection, under number (596). We have designated it by the symbol (H).
Its copying was undertaken, as stated at the end of its final folio, by Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Aslamī, then al-Alshī, known as Ibn Fartībīb. He completed copying it on Friday, between the noon and afternoon prayers, which was the twenty-fifth day of the noble month of Ramaḍān, in the year five hundred and eighty-nine.
It came into the possession of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Judhāmī, as stated on the title page. It then passed to the Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-ʿAknūn, as indicated at the end of the final folio of the copy.
This copy is complete, and its script is the customary Maghribī style. Its number of folios is (222), with approximately (41) lines per page, and about (22) words per line.
In its margins are numerous valuable annotations and notes, as well as references to the transmissions of *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, particularly the transmission of Ibn al-Aʿrābī and the transmission of Abū ʿĪsā al-Ramlī. We have referred to these transmissions on many occasions. The copyist has made clear that most of these annotations are derived from the copy of the Ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAlī al-Ghassānī, as he will mention shortly.
On the title page appears the following text:
"A volume containing all the Sunan related from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. The composition of Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Sijistānī, may God be pleased with him, transmitted by Abū Bakr Muḥammad..."

Ibn Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Tammār, known as Ibn Dāsah — may God have mercy on them and be pleased with them all.

The title page contained several audition certificates (samāʿāt), one of them in the handwriting of the Imām, the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān ibn Ḥawṭ Allāh.

This copy is according to the transmission (riwāyah) of Ibn Dāsah from Abū Dāwūd, and upon this transmission Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī — who died in the year 375 AH — based his commentary, for he transmits it directly from Ibn Dāsah. However, we found that it differed on some occasions from al-Khaṭṭābī's transmission, and perhaps that is due to differences among the transmissions from Ibn Dāsah — and God knows best.

On the leaf preceding the title page, the following text appears:

I read this book — namely, the Sunan compiled by Abū Dāwūd — before the Imām, the venerable master Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tanūkhī, while he held his own copy in his hand, reading and annotating it himself. He collated his copy against that of his colleague, the jurist Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir al-Qaysī, who had previously compared it against two ancient copies that had belonged to al-Ḥakam al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, Commander of the Faithful — may God be pleased with him — which Abū Bakr ibn Dāsah — may God have mercy on him — had sent to him, containing his own handwriting. Then Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ghassānī — may God have mercy on him — undertook its collation against the book of Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm, being his transmission from Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī, from the beginning of the collection to its end. He wrote most of the annotations of the aforementioned book in his own hand, and marked them in this book with the letter (ʿ) as a sign. And what he wrote —

In it (from ʿA) it is among what was marked with a sign, and it is not from his own hand. What was written on it (ʿA) with a lengthened form is a reference to Abū ʿĪsā al-Ramlī, and what was written on it (B) without prolongation is a reference to Ibn al-Aʿrābī, and what was written on it (Dh) is a reference to Abū Dharr from the transmission of al-Luʾluʾī.

This aforementioned book had its chapters arranged by Abū ʿAlī according to what I have laid out at the beginning of this book, and he wrote them in their proper places. The collation was completed over a number of days—namely, that from which copies were made—on the tenth day of Rajab al-Fard, in the year 576 AH. Praise be to God alone, with no partner to Him, and prayers upon Muḥammad, His Prophet and servant, and His chosen one from His creation. We ask God to illuminate our hearts with its understanding and action upon what is in it, and to expand our breasts for contemplating it and pausing upon it. He is the One worthy of that and capable of it, the Lord of goodness and the Guide to it; there is no Lord other than Him.

On this same leaf there is also an index of the names of the books without mention of page numbers, according to the arrangement of Ibn Dāsah.

Then therein was mentioned the arrangement of the books according to what is established in the copy of the ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAlī al-Ghassānī.

And on the final leaf came the following text: Praise be to God. Its collation was completed to the extent of ability with its owner, the Shaykh, the Imām, the learned one, the eminent, my master Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-ʿAknūn—may God grant him ample time and place blessing in his progeny and descendants, by the rank of the most noble of creation among His creatures, may God's prayers be upon him and upon his family and all his companions. Written by one hoping for the pardon of his Magnificent Lord, al-ʿAbbāsī Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd—may God forgive his slip—in mid-Shaʿbān of the year 1241 AH.

Here are the biographies of the men whose names appear in this copy:

First: The copyist, who is Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿAlī al-Aslamī al-Alshī. We have found no biography of him. However, what has become clear to us from his copy is that he was a man of knowledge of hadith, precise, and rarely making errors. His teacher, to whom he read the book "al-Sunan," namely Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tanūkhī, was the foremost of the grammarians of Seville, as described by Judge ʿIyāḍ. There is no doubt that he benefited from him in this matter. The title page describes this Sulaymān as a jurist (faqīh), so it appears that he was among those who combined jurisprudence and hadith. This became clear to us from the quotations he occasionally cited concerning the jurisprudence of hadith from the early scholars (salaf), beyond what is found in "al-Sunan."

Second: The biography of the owner of the copy: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Judhāmī, who is Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qurṭubī, resident of Sabtah. The Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said: He was a hadith scholar and man of letters, skilled in medicine and knowledgeable in it. He resided in Marrakesh and died there, in the year six hundred and fifty (650 AH).(1)

Third: The biographies of the men of the audition (samāʿ) whose names appear on the folio preceding the title page:

A- Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tanūkhī: He is the son of Muḥammad, known as Ibn al-Akhḍar al-Ishbīlī. Judge ʿIyāḍ said: He was the foremost of the grammarians there. People learned from him, both earlier and later generations, and heard from him the books of adab...
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(1) Al-Dhahabī, in "Tārīkh al-Islām," under the deaths of the year (650 AH).

They verified it against him, and most of his learning was from Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Aʿlam. He heard from the ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAlī al-Ghassānī. I met him in Seville in the year 498 AH, and he was a man of integrity, virtue, and religiosity. He died in Seville in the year 514 AH.¹

B. Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir al-Qaysī. Ibn Bashkuwāl said: He was from the people of Seville. He studied extensively with Abū ʿAlī al-Ghassānī and was particularly devoted to him. He was renowned for hadith and knowledge of it, and was dedicated to it. People learned from him. Ibn al-Abbār said: He was the precise muḥaddith from the people of Bāja, and he settled in Seville. He was devoted exclusively to Abū ʿAlī al-Ghassānī, heard from him most of what he possessed, and remained in his company until his death, so he came to be known as the disciple of al-Ghassānī. He was born in the year 449 AH and died on the night of the twenty-seventh of Jumādā al-Ūlā, in the year 542 AH.²

C. Al-Ḥakam al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, Commander of the Believers: He is al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad, Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, son of al-Nāṣir, the Umayyad Marwānid, Commander of the Believers in al-Andalus. The ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said: He had an excellent conduct, was a collector of knowledge, honored the virtuous, was of great standing, possessed an extraordinary zeal for knowledge and virtues, and was devoted to study. He amassed a collection of books that no king had gathered before him or after him. He sought them out and spent great sums of money on their prices, all while possessing purity of heart, intellect, generosity, and closeness to scholars. And indeed—

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1. Al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, in *al-Ghunya* — his biographical dictionary of his teachers, entry no. 79.
2. Ibn Bashkuwāl, in *al-Ṣila*, entry no. 1296; and Ibn al-Abbār, in *al-Muʿjam fī aṣḥāb Abī ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī*, entry no. 133.

His treasuries were filled with the books that came to him, and he preferred them over the pleasures of kings. Thus his knowledge became abundant and his discernment refined. He had a brilliant hand in the knowledge of men, genealogies, and reports. He also said: He was reliable in what he transmitted. He was born in the year three hundred and two, and died in the year three hundred and sixty-six.¹

d. Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ghassani, who is the Andalusian from Jayyan (though he was not from Jayyan, but his father settled there during the Berber fitnah around 400 AH, and their origin was from al-Zahra', as Ibn Bashkuwal said). Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi described him, saying: The Imam, the hafiz, the proficient, the authoritative proof, the critical scholar, the hadith master of al-Andalus. He was born in the year four hundred and twenty-seven, and he never traveled from al-Andalus. He was among the foremost of the hafizes, strong in Arabic, excellent in language, and preeminent in belles-lettres, poetry, and genealogy. Ibn Bashkuwal said: More than one person reported to us from him, and they described him with majesty, memorization, distinction, humility, and probity. He died in the year four hundred and ninety-eight.²

e. Ahmad ibn Sa'id ibn Hazm: He is Abu Umar al-Sadafi al-Andalusi. Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi described him, saying: The shaykh, the scholar, the great hafiz, the historian, author of "al-Tarikh al-Kabir" on the names of men in several volumes. He was one of the leading imams of hadith, with complete attention to the traditions. He died in the year three hundred and fifty in Cordoba.³

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¹ Al-Dhahabi, "al-Siyar," 8/269–271.
² Ibid., 19/148–151.
³ Ibid., 16/104–105.

Fourth: A biography of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān ibn Ḥawṭ Allāh, whose name appears in one of the audition certificates recorded on the title page: He is Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd ibn Ḥawṭ Allāh al-Anṣārī, al-Ḥārithī, al-Andalusī, al-Andī. The Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī described him, saying: "The ḥāfiẓ, the imām, the muḥaddith of al-Andalus." He compiled the seven qirāʾāt. He was born in the year five hundred and forty-nine. He was an eloquent prose writer, an orator, a poet, and a grammarian, and he took a leading position in the qirāʾāt and the Arabic language. He died in the year six hundred and twelve(1).

Fifth: A biography of the scribe of the audition certificate recorded on the final leaf, namely Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-ʿAbbāsī. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥayy ibn ʿAbd al-Kabīr al-Kattānī said: He is the scholar of Qusanṭīnah and its muḥaddith. He studied in Tunis, and he had a transmission from Ḥasan al-Sharīf and others. He died in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty-one. He has a register of his chains of transmission for the six authentic collections, compiled for him by his student, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Ṣāʾigh al-Ḥarakātī.

As for his teacher, namely Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-ʿAknūn, to whom this copy was read, his biography was not ascertained(2).

The sixth copy:
It is a photographic reproduction of the original manuscript preserved in the General Maḥmūdiyyah Library in al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, under number (39) ḥadīth. We have designated it with the symbol (W).

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(1) Al-Dhahabī, in al-Siyar, 22/41–42.
(2) ʿAbd al-Ḥayy ibn ʿAbd al-Kabīr al-Kattānī, in Fihris al-Fahāris, biography (471), 2/832.

It is the oldest copy in our possession among the copies of Abu Dawud; the earliest recorded hearing (samāʿ) in it dates to the year 389 AH, which means that it was transcribed before that date. It is known from the chain of transmission of the copy, as recorded on its first folio, that between its copyist and Abu Dawud there were only two men, namely: the jurist Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Dāwud al-Samarqandī, and Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Bakr ibn Dāsah.

This hearing, dated to the year 389 AH, was from Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Dāwud al-Samarqandī, as explicitly stated by name at the beginning of the sixth and tenth parts (juzʾ) of the Book of Prayer (Kitāb al-Ṣalāh).

It also contains a hearing, in the copyist's own hand, from Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Māsarjisī, and from Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī al-Rūdhbārī, both of whom transmitted from Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Bakr ibn Dāsah, from Abu Dawud, as recorded at the end of the eleventh part of the Book of Prayer and at the end of the first part of the Book of Zakat (Kitāb al-Zakāh).

Thus, the copyist had three teachers transmitting from Abū Bakr ibn Dāsah: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Māsarjisī, Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī, and Abū ʿAlī al-Samarqandī.

Another man was appended to the chain of transmission of the copy in a different hand, namely al-Ḥākim Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Ismāʿīlī.

This copy was written in an ancient script.

It is a precious copy, but it is incomplete; what survives of it begins with the hadith of Ibn Masʿūd, numbered (815), and ends with hadith (2426) from the book.

Fasting: Chapter on Observing Continuous Voluntary Fasting. It includes a portion of the Book of Prayer, the Book of Alms, and a portion of the Book of Fasting amounting to nearly half of it.

It comprises eleven parts: eight parts from the Book of Prayer, beginning with the fourth part and ending with the eleventh part, two parts representing the Book of Alms, and the first part of the Book of Fasting.

At the end of each part and its beginning there are audition certificates, some dated in the year 389 AH, some in the year 468 AH, some in the year 502 AH, and some in the year 555 AH.

Had this original manuscript been complete, it would have been the authoritative source for the critical edition of the "Sunan," due to its rarity and antiquity.

Here are the biographical accounts of the teachers of the copyist whom we mentioned previously in this manuscript:

(a) Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Dawud al-Samarqandi: He is al-Hasan ibn Dawud ibn Ridwan, the traditionist and jurist. Imam Abd al-Qadir al-Qurashi said: He studied jurisprudence in Nishapur under Abu Sahl al-Zajjaji. Al-Hakim said in his "History of Nishapur": He was one of the foremost Kufan jurists in dialectical reasoning and disputation. He went out to Iraq and remained there hearing hadith and studying jurisprudence. He then returned to Nishapur, taught jurisprudence, built a school, and stayed with me for a period. He died in the year 395 AH. (1)

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(1) Abd al-Qadir al-Qurashi in "Al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyya," biography no. 446, and Abu Ishaq al-Sarifini in "Al-Muntakhab min Kitab al-Siyaq li-Tarikh Nishapur," biography no. 486.

B—Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Māsarjisī: He is the son of Muṣliḥ, the Nishāpūrī Shāfiʿī. The ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī described him, saying: “The distinguished scholar, the master of the Shāfiʿīs.” He studied jurisprudence under Abū Isḥāq al-Marwazī and accompanied him to Egypt, and became the repetitor (muʿīd) of Abū ʿAlī ibn Abī Hurayrah. In Egypt, he met the companions of al-Rabīʿ and al-Muzanī. Under him, the qāḍī Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī and a group of others studied jurisprudence. He was among the scholars of authoritative positions (aṣḥāb al-wujūh). Al-Ḥākim said: “He was the most knowledgeable of the companions regarding the school (madhhab) and its arrangement.” He held sessions of scholarly debate and sessions of dictation (imlāʾ). He died in the year 384 AH.

C—Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī al-Rūdhbārī: He is the son of Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥātim. The ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī described him, saying: “The imam, the transmitter of many hadiths (al-musnid).” Al-Ḥākim said: “Abū ʿAlī came to Nishāpūr at the request of a group of nobles and scholars so that they might hear from him the book al-Sunan by Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī. A session of dictation was held for him in the congregational mosque, but he fell ill and was returned to his homeland in al-Ṭābarān, where he died in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the year 403 AH.” From him, al-Bayhaqī took the transmission of Ibn Dāsah.

D—Al-Ḥākim Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Ismāʿīlī: He is the son of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Nīsābūrī al-Sarrāj al-Muzakkī.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī described him by saying: "The Imām, the preacher, the one who attests to the integrity of witnesses." ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Fārisī said in his book *al-Siyāq li-Tārīkh Naysābūr*: "A shaykh, well-known, trustworthy; his household is a household of purification and uprightness, and he is among the foremost of the judiciary council. He is among those who are accepted and relied upon by all groups, and he is sound in belief, following the Sunnī way." He died in the year four hundred and sixty-nine, and the qāḍī, the Imām Manṣūr ibn Ṣāʿid, led the funeral prayer over him. (1)

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(1) Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣarīfīnī in *al-Muntakhab min Kitāb al-Siyāq li-Tārīkh Naysābūr*, biography no. 234, and al-Dhahabī in *Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ* 18/250.

Our Work on the Book

In editing this book, we were careful to follow the soundest rules of scholarly editing, and we exerted our utmost effort, to the extent of our ability, in producing its text correctly and completely according to the reliable manuscript sources, which we have described in the preceding section. These are copies of the highest degree of precision and accuracy, trustworthy, dependable, and reliable:

1. We collated the printed edition against the manuscript sources, taking the copy of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar as our base text, and we recorded the important textual variants. During the collation, it became clear to us that there is a difference in the arrangement of chapters and ḥadīths between the two transmissions of Abū ʿAlī al-Luʾluʾī and Abū Bakr Ibn Dāsa. Some copies follow the transmission of al-Luʾluʾī, while others follow that of Ibn Dāsa. In the vast majority of cases, we adopted the arrangement of al-Luʾluʾī, for reasons we have mentioned in his biography when discussing the students of Abū Dāwūd.

Occasionally, Ibn Dāsa's transmission contains ḥadīths that are not found in al-Luʾluʾī's transmission; we would mention these, noting that they are not present in al-Luʾluʾī's transmission.

2. We vocalized with pen-point diacritics whatever was problematic among the names, patronymics, and epithets of the narrators, and we vocalized the texts of the ḥadīths with near-complete precision as well.

3. We then traced the ḥadīths to their other sources, limiting ourselves to the five principal books. If a ḥadīth also appears in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad or in Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, we mentioned it as well, for those who wish to expand its tracing. We here convey the summary of the judgment we reached regarding them, contenting ourselves with that.

We have already addressed this matter previously so as not to repeat the effort, unless it becomes apparent to us that the ruling we had mentioned there was not sound, due to our coming upon something in the hadith that we had not been aware of at that time—and that is rare, praise be to God Almighty and by His grace. As for the hadiths that appear in the book and are not found in the *Musnad* of Ahmad nor in the *Sahih* of Ibn Hibban, we undertook the study of their chains of transmission, completed their attribution, and ruled on each hadith according to what befits its condition—whether authentic, fair, or weak.

4. Since Imam Abu Dawud, like the other authors of the *Sunan*, did not stipulate in his book the inclusion of only authentic hadiths, but rather included both the authentic and the weak, it was necessary to distinguish the sound from the defective among them, and to clarify which are admissible as evidence and which are not—as more than one of the imams have called for, out of sincere counsel to God, His Messenger, and the general body of Muslims. We therefore undertook the study of the chain of transmission of every hadith in the *Sunan*, and ruled on each according to what befits its condition—whether authentic, fair, or weak—guided by the principles and rules established by the masters and critics of hadith for authenticating narrations, examining chains of transmission, and scrutinizing texts. For al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, may God have mercy on him, mentioned in his *Nukat 'ala Ibn al-Salah* (1) that in the *Sunan* there is a great deal that is not suitable for use as evidence, from the hadiths of abandoned narrators… Then he said: "And when this is established, the path of whoever wishes to cite a hadith from the *Sunan*, or hadiths from the *Masanid*, is one and the same, for none of those who compiled them stipulated authenticity or even fairness exclusively. So this one who cites evidence—if he is qualified to know the authentic from other than it, he may not cite a hadith as evidence—

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(1) 1/448.

It is part of the Sunnah that one should not look into the continuity of the chain of transmission or the condition of its narrators, just as it is not permissible for him to cite a hadith from the Musnads until he has full knowledge of that. And if he is not qualified for that, then his way is to look at the hadith—if it is in the two Sahihs, or if one of the imams has explicitly declared it authentic, then he may follow them in that (taqlid). But if he finds no one who has declared it authentic or has graded it fair (hasan), then he must not proceed to cite it as evidence, lest he be like one gathering firewood at night—perhaps he will cite falsehood as evidence without realizing it.

Allah, Glorified be He, has granted us success in most of what we have explained and verified of the principles to observe this important aspect, to give it the utmost care, and to expand upon it to the fullest extent, so that we may be absolved of the burden of shortcoming in what Allah has made obligatory upon us in this knowledge with which Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, has honored us.

5. Likewise, we have undertaken to explain what needs explanation of the hadiths to clarify their jurisprudence (fiqh), relying in most of that on the commentary of Imam al-Khattabi in "Ma'alim al-Sunan" and the "Tahdhib" of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, then on the commentary of Abu al-Tayyib al-'Azim Abadi, "'Awn al-Ma'bud," and the commentary of Khalil Ahmad al-Saharanfuri, "Badhl al-Majhud," then on the commentaries of the six books of hadith (al-usul al-sittah) and other books that have undertaken that task.

We have relied in explaining the obscure words (gharib) of hadith on the most important books concerned with that, foremost among them the commentary of al-Khattabi, "Ma'alim al-Sunan," which paid great attention to interpreting the obscure words of hadith alongside its attention to jurisprudence and the recording of the differences of the mujtahid scholars. This is because he studied under Ibn al-A'rabi and Ghulam Tha'lab, both of whom are among the leading imams of language. And perhaps he transmitted from them in some places.

We have also relied upon *al-Nihāyah* by al-Mubārak ibn Muḥammad Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī, because he selected from the books of *gharīb* (unusual terms) that preceded him, and excelled in this book with the utmost excellence.

6. We undertook the task of editing the text, detailing it, and arranging it in a manner that facilitates its understanding and clarifies it.

At the end of this introduction, I must acknowledge the virtue of our noble and generous colleague, Professor Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir al-ʿAjami, who sent me the photographed copies of the original manuscripts, and presented them to me, as is his custom, as a gift purely for the sake of Allah, and out of a desire to publish the books of the Prophetic Sunnah in a meticulous publication that makes them easy to benefit from and utilize. I ask Allah, Glorified be He, that he may attain through that abundant reward and great recompense from the Almighty, who does not waste the reward of those who do good deeds.

I also extend my sincere gratitude and abundant praise to Professor Riḍwān Daʿbūl, who photographed for me the copy of Abū Dāwūd that Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn al-Nābulusī had collated, from the Ẓāhiriyyah Library in Damascus.

Furthermore, I offer my sincere and fullest thanks to Professor Muḥammad Iqbāl Riḍwān Daʿbūl, who has pledged himself to present beneficial and delightful works from the books of the Sunnah, meticulously verified, and to follow in this the path of his father in his institution, Dār al-Risālah al-ʿĀlamiyyah, which he established. I indeed clasp his hand in support and pray to Allah that he may continue in giving in this field, and that he may be the best successor to the best predecessor. Verily, He is Near and Responsive. And the last of our supplication is that all praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Amman: 12 Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 1430 AH

Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ and Muḥammad Kāmil Qarah Balalī

The first folio from the copy of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in his own handwriting (A).

The last folio of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar's copy, in his own handwriting (A).

The first folio from the copy of the Islamic University Library in Medina (B).