The Transmission of Abū Dāwūd's Sunan

James Robson

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00088534

The Transmission of Abū Dāwūd's Sunan

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

James Robson

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Abū Dāwūd Sulaimān b. al-Ash'ath al-Sijistānī (202–275/817–889) was the author of the Sunan which has come to be recognized as one of the six authoritative books of tradition accepted by Sunnīs. Ibn Dāsa is frequently quoted as authority for the statement that Abū Dāwūd selected the 4,800 traditions in this work from a mass of 500,000 traditions which he had collected, those given a place in his book being ‘sound traditions, those which seem to be so, and those which are nearly so’. But he adds that only four traditions are necessary for one's religious guidance: (1) Deeds are judged by intentions; (2) To abstain from what does not concern him is a part of a man's good observance of Islam; (3) A believer is not a believer till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself; (4) What is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but in between are dubious matters.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , October 1952 , pp. 579 - 588

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00088534 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1952

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References

^{page 579 note 1} Cf. Al-aṭīb al-Badādī, Ta'rī Ba dād (Cairo, 1349/1931), ix, 57; Nawawī, , Tah īb al-asmā', ed. F. Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1842–1947), p. 711Google Scholar; Ibn allikān (De Slane), i, 590; Subkī, , Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi'īya al-kubrā (Cairo, 1323–1334), ii, 48 f.Google Scholar; Yāfi'ī, , Mir'āt al-janān (Ḥaidarābād, 1334–9), ii, 189 f.Google Scholar

^{page 579 note 2} Nawawī, , op. cit., 710Google Scholar; ahabī, Ta kirat al-ḥuffāẓ (Ḥaidarābād, 1315), ii, 153; Subkī, , Tab., ii. 48Google Scholar; Ibn Ḥajar, Tah īb al-tah īb (Ḥaidarābād, 1325–8), iv, 172.

^{page 579 note 3} Nawawī, , op. cit., 710Google Scholar; Ibn all., i, 590; ahabī, Ta .,ii, 153; Subkī, Ibn Ḥajar and Yāfi'ī, loc. cit.

^{page 579 note 4} Ibn all., Ibn Ḥajar, and Yāfi'ī, loc. cit.

^{page 579 note 5} aṭīb, op. cit., ix, 58Google Scholar; Nawawī and Ibn Ḥajar, loc. cit.

^{page 579 note 6} Nawawī, ahabī, and Ibn Ḥajar, loc. cit., Subkī, , Ṭab., ii, 49.Google Scholar

^{page 579 note 7} aṭīb, op. cit., ix, 56Google Scholar; Ibn all. and Yāfi'ī, loc. cit.; Subkī, , Ṭab., ii, 48.Google Scholar

^{page 579 note 8} Nawawī, , op. cit., 711.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 1} ahabī, Ta ., ii, 154; Subkī, , Ṭab., ii, 49.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 2} Nawawī, , op. cit., 710Google Scholar; Ḥajar, Ibn, op. cit., iv, 172.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 3} Ibn air, Fikrisa (Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, vols. ix and x), p. 107.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 4} Nawawī, , op. cit., 711 f.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 5} pp. 102–8.

^{page 580 note 6} (1) Al-amam li-īqāẓ al-himam, by Ibrāhīm b. Ḥasan b. ihāb al-Dīn al-Kurdī al-Kūrānī (1025–1102) [H. 1]. (2) Bu yat al-ṭālibīn, by Aḥmad al-Nalī al-Makkī (d. 1130) [H. 2]. (3) Kitāb al-imdād bi-ma'rifat 'ulūw al-isnād, by 'Abdallāh b. Sālim al-Baṣrī al-Makkī (d. 1135) [H. 3]. (4) Qaṭf al- amar, by ṣāliḥ b. Muḥammad b. Nūḥ al-'Umarī al-Fullānī (d. 1218) [H. 4]. (5) Itḥāf al-akābir bi-isnād al-dafātir, by Muḥammad b. 'Alī al-aukānī (1172–1255) [H. 5’. The numbers in square brackets will be used in referring to these works. Rylands, No. 130, has the isnād down to 'Abdallāh b. Sālim given in H. 3, p. 6.

^{page 580 note 7} Pars Secunda, codices arabicos complectens, 1846–1871.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 8} Mingana, , Cat. of the Arabic MSS. in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, 1934.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 9} Verzeichniss der ar. Hdss. der Kgl. Bibliothek zu Berlin, 1887–1899.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 10} Ta ., ii, 153.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 11} Tah īb, iv, 169 f.Google Scholar

^{page 580 note 12} Op. cit., 709.

^{page 580 note 13} pp. 102 ff.

^{page 580 note 14} p. 106.

^{page 581 note 1} Ṭab., ii, 48.Google Scholar

^{page 581 note 2} pp. 105 f.

^{page 581 note 3} p. 103.

^{page 581 note 4} p. 106.

^{page 581 note 5} iii, 625.

^{page 581 note 6} Ibn all., i, 89 f.; Ta ., iv, 220 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 581 note 7} Cf. Brockelmann, , GAL., i, 161Google Scholar; Supp. i, 267.

^{page 581 note 8} Ibn Bakuwāl, Sila, No. 1180.

^{page 581 note 9} This is Ibn air's normal way of declaring how he got the Sunan, so it is unnecessary to repeat it.

^{page 581 note 10} Ṣila, No. 326; ahabī, Ta ., iv, 30 f.Google Scholar

^{page 581 note 11} Cf. Brock, ., GAL., i, 367 f., Supp. i, 628 f.Google Scholar

^{page 581 note 12} Ṣila, No. 744; Ḍabbī, Bu yat al-multamis, No. 986; Farḥūn, Ibn, Al-dībā:al-mu ahhab (Cairo, 1329/1911), p. 150.Google Scholar

^{page 582 note 1} ahabī, Mīzān al-i'tidāl (Cairo, 1325), ii, 75Google Scholar; al-Faraḍi, Ibn, Ta'rī ‘ulamā’ al-AndalusGoogle Scholar, No. 755; Dabbī, No. 882.

^{page 582 note 2} See p. 588.

^{page 582 note 3} Sila, No. 1403; Dabbī, No. 1500; Ibn al-Abbār, Mu'jam, No. 313.

^{page 582 note 4} Fihrisa, 106.Google Scholar

^{page 582 note 5} ṣila, No. 1077; Ḍabbī, No. 241; Dībāj, 274 f.Google Scholar

^{page 582 note 6} ṣila, No. 576.

^{page 582 note 7} ṣila No. 131; cf. Ḍabbī, No. 349.

^{page 582 note 8} Faraḍī, No. 1678.

^{page 582 note 9} Fihrisa, 106 f.Google Scholar

^{page 582 note 10} ahabī, Ta ., iii, 66 f.Google Scholar

^{page 582 note 11} ṣila, No. 673; Ḍabbī, No. 1049.

^{page 582 note 12} Ḍabbī, No. 411; Faraḍī, No. 140.

^{page 582 note 13} ṣila, No. 334.

^{page 583 note 1} Fihrisa, 103 f.Google Scholar

^{page 583 note 2} Ibid., p. 104.

^{page 583 note 3} Ibid., p. 106.

^{page 583 note 4} Cf. Tahānawī, , Dict. of Tech. Terms (ed. Sprenger), p. 282Google Scholar, where it is suggested that one may use a barani only when one has been alone when receiving traditions, and that a baranā should be used if others were present. But he indicates that the rule is not strict, and it is worthy of note that al-Ṣalāḥ, Ibn, 'Ulūm al-ḥadī (Aleppo, 1931), 140Google Scholar ff., does not even mention this refinement.

^{page 583 note 5} Ṣila, No. 691; cf. Ḍabbī, No. 1042; al-Jazarī, Ibn, āyat al-nihāya, No. 1618.Google Scholar

^{page 583 note 6} Ḍabbī, No. 452; Faraḍī, No. 181.

^{page 583 note 7} Ṣila, No. 1276; āyat, No. 3645.

^{page 583 note 8} Nawawī, , op. cit., p. 711.Google Scholar

^{page 583 note 9} aṭīb, Ta'rī , vi, 395.Google Scholar

^{page 583 note 10} Fihrisa, p. 106.Google Scholar

^{page 584 note 1} Ḍabbī, No. 809; cf. Faraḍī, No. 530. Ṣila, No. 487, probably speaks of another man who had the same name.

^{page 584 note 2} Ḍabbī, No. 399; Faraḍī, No. 110.

^{page 584 note 3} Ramlī is called Abū Dāwūd's warrāq in Fihrisa, 104Google Scholar, and Tah īb, iv, 170.Google Scholar

^{page 584 note 4} See p. 581. Faradī, No. 387, speaks of Ḥamīd's travels, and his meeting and hearing Abū Bakr b. Abū Dāwūd in Badād, but does not mention his meeting Ramlī.

^{page 584 note 5} See p. 582.

^{page 584 note 6} Sam'ānī, , Ansāb, 496b.Google Scholar

^{page 584 note 7} At beginning of printed text of Sunan, Cairo, 1348/1930.

^{page 584 note 8} Ansāb, 587bGoogle Scholar; Yāqūt, , Geogr. Wōrterh., iv, 484f.Google ScholarSubkī, , Ṭab., iii, 12Google Scholar, calla him rāwī al-sunan.

^{page 584 note 9} Ṣila, No. 139; Geogr. Wörterb., ii, 582f.Google Scholar

^{page 584 note 10} Geogr. Wörterb., Register; ahabī, Ta ., iii, 349 ffGoogle Scholar. For wa-abul Walīd read wa-abil Walīd (Fihrisa, 104f.).Google Scholar

^{page 584 note 11} Ta ., iii, 284ff.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 1} Ṣila, ii, 419f.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 2} Fihrisa, 105Google Scholar, wrongly gives 'Adanī. See Ibn all., iii, 12 ff.Google Scholar; Sila, No. 1181; Ta ., iv, 86ff.Google Scholar; Makkari, , Analectas, i, 477Google Scholarff.; Dībāj, 281ff.Google Scholar; Ḥajar, Ibn, Lisān al-mīzān, v, 234.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 3} Ṣila, No. 970.

^{page 585 note 4} Ṣila, No. 1187.

^{page 585 note 5} Geogr. Wörterb., iii, 529 f.Google Scholar; Dībāj, 276 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 6} Fihrisa, 105.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 7} Ṣila, No. 903.

^{page 585 note 8} See E.I, ii, 929 f., for references.

^{page 585 note 9} al-Abbār, Ibn, TakmilaGoogle Scholar, NO. 2076; cf. Ḍabbī, No. 1446.

^{page 585 note 10} This is the author of the maqāmas. See below, p. 588.

^{page 585 note 11} Ta ., iv, 169 fGoogle Scholar. Ḥajar, Ibn, Lisān, v, 365.Google Scholar

^{page 585 note 12} Mīzān, iii, 131Google Scholar; Ḥajar, Ibn, Lisān, v, 365fGoogle Scholar. Mīzān says Ḥuṣrī heard some years after 550; Ibn Ḥajar says in 555.

^{page 586 note 1} The printed text has Ḥaḍramī.

^{page 586 note 2} Geogr. Wörterb., iv, 709.Google Scholar

^{page 586 note 3} The printed text has Abul Ẓafar. For the correct form, cf. Ṣafadī, , Das Biographische Lexicon (Bibl. Islamica, 6a), p. 351.Google Scholar

^{page 586 note 4} Ṣafadī, , pp. 350 f.Google Scholar

^{page 586 note 5} Geogr. Wōrterb., ii, 522f.Google Scholar H. 1–5 and the John Rylands MS. extend the transmission for several centuries. Abū Ḥafs represents a period fairly close to that of Ibn air, and therefore it is convenient to go no farther. The same principle was followed above in going no farther than Ḥusrī.

^{page 586 note 6} Geogr. Wörterb., iv, 143Google Scholar. H. 1, H. 2 and B.M., MDlXV, give the kunya as Abul Badr; Rylands, , 130Google Scholar, as Abul Walīd; and Yāqūt, loc. cit., as Abū Isḥāq.

^{page 586 note 7} B.M., MDlxv, has Rūmī.

^{page 586 note 8} Rylands, , 130Google Scholar (on margin of f. 363b) says the MS. is an edition of the Sunan giving the divisions made under the editorship of the aṭīb.

^{page 586 note 9} Ḥajar, Ibn, Lisān, iv, 442Google Scholar. It is mentioned there that Ibn al-Muqīr was the last to transmit from Isfarā'inī with ijāza.

^{page 586 note 10} Ta ., ii, 153.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 1} Ta ., iv, 90 ff.Google Scholar; cf. āya, No. 472; Geogr. Wörterb., Register.

^{page 587 note 2} Ansāb, 30ab;Google ScholarSubkī, , iii, 48.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 3} Fihrisa, 100.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 4} Ibid., 120.

^{page 587 note 5} Ṣila, No. 744.

^{page 587 note 6} Dībāj, 274.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 7} Fihrisa, 101.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 8} Ibid., 111 f.

^{page 587 note 9} Cf. al-Ṣalāḥ, Ibn, 'Ulūm, 160.Google Scholar

^{page 587 note 10} Ibid., 156.

^{page 588 note 1} No. 755.

^{page 588 note 2} Mīzān, ii, 75Google Scholar, and Ḍabbī, No. 882, give no dates.

^{page 588 note 3} Takmila, No. 2076.

^{page 588 note 4} Fihrisa, 387.Google Scholar

^{page 588 note 5} Ibid., 451.

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