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The prominent Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Abu Dawud Sijistani
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 15th of the Islamic month of Shawwal in 275 AH, the prominent Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Abu Dawud Sulayman Ibn al-Ash'as Sijistani, passed away in Basra at the age of 73. Born in Sistan, in eastern Iran, he studied in Herat, Balkh, Marv, and Naishapur – the famous centres of learning in Khorasan – before travelling to Rayy and thence to Baghdad, Damascus, Hijaz, and Egypt, to collect hadith. He was primarily interested in jurisprudence, and as a result his collection focuses mostly on narrations of legal nature.
Of the 500,000-odd so-called hadith he collected from whomever he encountered, he chose 4,800 as "Sahih" (authentic) for inclusion in his work titled “Sunan Abi Dawud", which Sunni Muslims regard as the third of their six "canonical" hadith collections, although modern scholarship amongst the Sunnis has ruled many of his hadith as "weak" after due scrutiny.
Among his other books, mention could be made of “Kitab al-Marasil”, in which he lists some 600 more hadith as authentic. Although he has acknowledged the unsurpassed merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, he did not have any direct access to the Infallible Imams or their disciples, the true repositories of the authentic "Sunnah" (practice) and "Seerah" (behaviour) of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
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