THE LIFE AND HADĪTH COLLECTION OF IMAM ABUDAWUD AND ITS COMMENTARY AND OBJECTIVES
In the also of the article we will be able to : Relate Imam Abu Daud`s Full Name, Birth and Growth Discuss education career, teachers and students of Abu Dawud Review the work and Sunan of Abu Dawud and its Commentaries
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Imam Abu Dawud`s Full Name, Birth and Growth His real name is Abu Dawud Sulaymān bn Ash’ath bn Isħāq bn Bashīr bn Shaddād bn Umar bn Imrān al-Azdī al-Sijistānī. He was born in 202 A.H / 817 C.E in the province of Sijistan, a famous city in Khurāsān. He belonged to the Arab tribe Azd. He lived during the time when the Muslim world was full of eminent scholars. Although he was born in Sijistan, he spent greater part of his life at Başrah which was a great center of learning at that time. He was blessed with an exceptional mind. He had to read a book only once to commit its entire content to memory. He was also a religious and pious man. He lived an ascetic who devoted most of his time to worship and remembrance of Allah. He kept away from men of rank, Sultans and the likes. He started his early education in his home town, Sajastan, and traveled out later on in search of Islamic sciences and Arabic literature. Some of the places he stayed during his studies include: ray, Harat, Kufah, Baghdad, Turasu, Dimash as Egypt and Basrah. He also visited Iraq, Syria, and Hijāz. He benefited greatly from the Muslim scholars of the places he visited. Scholars are unanimous about his great ability, trustworthiness and accuracy. He was not only a good narrator of Hadīth, he was also a good lawyer. He was well versed in the criticism of Hadīth and an expert in distinguishing sound Hadīths from the weak ones.
Relate Imam Abu Daud`s full name, birth and growth
His Educational Career, Teachers and Pupils Imam Abu Dawud started learning Hadīth while he was less than 20 years old. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars of Hadīth. He went to Hijaz, Isfahan, Iraq, Damascus, Khurasan, Egypt, Basrah, Syria, Nisharpur, for the sole purpose of collecting Hadīths. His collections based majorly on legal aspects of Islam because of the fact that his primary area of study was law (Fiqh). He gained high and wide reputation in his life time. Imam Abu Daud was said to have heard Hadīth from 300 personalities. Some of his teachers were:
- Abu Thawr
- Yahya bn Ma`īn
- Abu Amru Al-Dariri
- Ishaq bn Rāhawayh
- Muslim bn Ibrahim
- Abdullahi ibn Maslama
- Musa bn Isma’ila-Tabriu
- Uthman bn Abu Shaybah
- Ibrahim bn Musa al-Farāu
- Abdullah bn Raja’a bn Sa’īd
Imam Abu Dawud also benefited many students of Hadīth. His students include:
- al-Dūlabī
- Abu Bashar
- Imam Muslim
- Abu `Isa al-Tirmidhī
- Abu Abdurrahim al-Nasā’ī
- Abubakar bn Abi Dawud ‘Uwaynah
Discuss the educational career of Imam Abu Dawud and enumerate his teachers and students.
His Works: Likewise, Imam Abu Dawud contributed immensely to the development of Islamic learning, through teaching and writing. He wrote many works and on different aspects of Islamic sciences. Some of them are:
- Kitābu al-Duā
- Musnad Malik
- Kitābu al-Zuhd
- Kitābu `s-Şunan
- Kitābu “l-Qadar
- Kitābu al-Masā’il
- Kitāb fadā‘ilu `l-A‘māl
- Kitābu Ibtidau al-wahyi
- Kitābu Akhbāru l-khawārij Kitābu Nāsikh wa al-Mansūkh