Ibn Dawud

Ibn Dawud, often referencing Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath al-Sijistani, was a prominent 9th-century Islamic scholar of hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad). He is best known for compiling the Sunan Abi Dawud, one of the six canonical hadith collections in Sunni Islam, considered by many Sunni Muslims to be the fourth most important collection. He was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan in Iran and Afghanistan). He travelled extensively in pursuit of knowledge, studying under numerous scholars and collecting thousands of hadith reports. Beyond his work in hadith, he was also a scholar of jurisprudence (fiqh). His Sunan is distinguished by its focus on legal hadith and the author's comments elucidating their application to various legal issues. He died in 889 CE. His son, Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Dawud, was also a noted hadith scholar.