MUHAMMAD MUKARRAM (02-134192-054)

1st Assignment
“Contribution of Scholars of Science of Hadith
in the compilation of Hadith”

Sunan e Abu Dawood

(Compiled by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani)

About author: Abu Dawud al-Sijistani was born in sijistan, a province of khursan, in the year
202 AH (region covering parts of present day Iran and Afghanistan). He was from Yemen’s Azd
tribe. He began travelling in search of hadith at a young age, when he was 18 years age, he
arrived in Baghdad in 220 AH. Before accepting their narrations, he went on a mission to check
out the owners of hadith to assure their reliability. In his quest for knowledge, he travelled
across the provinces of khursan, Iraq, Hijaz, sham, Egypt and Nishapur. He was not just a
muaddith, but also a notable faqih who studied under imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal for a long time.

His contributions: Abu Dawood compiled twenty-one books related to Hadith and preferred
those Hadith which were supported by the example of the companions of Muhammad. As for
the contradictory Hadith, he states under the heading of 'Meat acquired by hunting for a
pilgrim': "if there are two contradictory reports from the Prophet (SAW), an investigation
should be made to establish what his companions have adopted".

He wrote in his letter to the people of Mecca: "I have disclosed wherever there was too much
weakness regarding any tradition in my collection. But if I happen to leave a Hadith without
any comment, it should be considered as sound, albeit some of them are more authentic than
others".

About book: Sunan Abu Dawood is the first book of its kind. “Sunan” means the books of
Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon Him) in which the hadiths are listed in jurisprudential
order. Imam Abu Dawood (may God have mercy on him) started this style which was very
popular among the Muslim Ummah. After Sunan Abu Dawood, many narrators wrote about it.

Sunan Abu Dawood is the source of Islamic injunctions. Many scholars agree that “Sunan Abu
Dawood” is sufficient to understand the injunctions of the Qur’an and Sunnah. In Sunan Abu
Dawood, there are hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regarding
the rules. Ibn al-‘Arabi says, “If a person has this book with the Qur’an, he does not need any
other knowledge after it.”

Compilation of Sunan e Abu Dawood: Imam Abu Dawood (may Allah have mercy on
him) lived in Tartus (Southern Turkey) for about twenty years. However, he wrote this book
during this period. After the completion of Sunan Abu Dawood, he (may Allah have mercy on
him) presented its draft in the service of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He liked Sunan Abu Dawood
immensely and appreciated its contents.
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Importance of Sunan e Abu Dawood: Sunan Abu Dawood is an important book in Kitab-
e-Sittah and Sunan-al-Arba’ah. This book has an important place among Ahl-e-Sunnah and
Jamaat. The name of Imam Abu Dawood is known among the Muslim Ummah as a very
authoritative narrator. He collected the hadiths of the benefactor of humanity and compiled
them in his book “Sunan Abu Dawood Sharif “. His writings also require a long list.

The “Kitab al-Sunan” is the main reason for his fame, which the Muslim Ummah knows as
“Sunan Abu Dawood “. Imam Abu Dawood in his book “Sunan Abu Dawood” has collected such
hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH) which are related to the commandments. That is why this book
became very popular among the jurists. Imam Abu Dawood has tried in this collection to collect
the authentic hadiths related to the rules of jurisprudence.

Imam al-Nawawi says ‘’It is necessary to study Sunan Abu Dawood for one who is skilled in the
science of jurisprudence. Because it mentions many Asian traditions, which become sources in
jurisprudential issue.’’ He has tried not to narrate from a narrator who is an obsolete hadith
(that is one who agrees to be weak). Besides, he has narrated in Sunan Abu Dawood most of
the traditions which are well known to the narrators. However, he has also narrated some
narrations in Sunan Abu Dawood which are not connected. Either they are messengers, or they
are tadlis.

Distinctive features of Sunan e Abu Dawood:

In the terminology of the scholars of hadith, “Sunan” is the book in which the hadiths of Ahkam
from Kitab al-Taharat to Kitab al-Wasaya have been compiled in a jurisprudential order. One of
the features of this book is that the names of the narrators of the hadith, their surnames, and
their titles are also mentioned.

 The book is compiled on jurisprudential chapters. The titles of the chapters are short,
concise, and clear.
 The hadiths are usually narrated in two or more isnads (‫)اسناد‬. Each sanad(‫ )سند‬contains a
definite point or special words, which are of useful knowledge to the scholars and
jurists. And these rules and issues are inferred.
 For the sake of brevity, the word “meaning” or “like” ( ‫مثله‬/‫ )بمعناه‬is usually used in
another document.
 In the narration of hadith, where one feels the need to introduce oneself and remove a
mistake, he introduces the narrators briefly.
 They also introduce such unknown places.
 The meanings of difficult words are given occasionally.
 The background of the hadith is also given as required.
 Explain the very weak hadiths.
 In important matters, the names of the Companions and followers and other Imams are
counted among the jurisprudential powers.
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Series of Sunan e Abu Dawood: Abu Dawood has divided his book into 36 books and
divided each book into several chapters with a total of 1871 chapters. Each hadith has a
translation based on the inferences of the scholars.

Khatib al-Baghdadi has quoted the words of Imam Abu Dawood as ‘’I have mentioned in
Sahih Sunan Abu Dawood the authentic, like it, close traditions. I have described the
traditions in which there is an extreme weakness. And those who are not mentioned are
sahih.’’

Most of the hadith in the book are complete, as well as some hadith are paused and there
are traces of some scholars. According to Abu Dawood, “some of the hadiths in this
collection are weak, which is why this book is different from Sahih (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih
Muslim).” Abu Dawood collected 50,000 hadiths, of which only 4,800 hadiths were included
in this book.