Timeline Explorer · Abu Dawud al-Sijistani · Stop 1 of 10
c. 817 CE · 202 AH approximate debated before the Hijra
A muhaddith of Sijistan and author of the Sunan, one of the six canonical books; born in 202/817, he travelled widely for hadith, settled at Basra and died in Shawwal 275/889.
تاريخ الإسلام ووفيات المشاهير والأعلام — الذهبيدائرة المعارف الإسلامية، الطبعة الثانية (ليدن: بريل)
Birth: Abu Dawud al-Sijistani — c. 817 CE · 202 AH
A muhaddith of Sijistan and author of the Sunan, one of the six canonical books; born in 202/817, he travelled widely for hadith, settled at Basra and died in Shawwal 275/889. His book is known for the notes he adds on the value of its traditions, and holds 4,800 traditions selected from 500,000; it was handed down in several versions, of which al-Lu'lu'i's is the most favoured .
Birth of Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, 202/817 — c. 817 CE · 202 AH
Abu Ubayd al-Ajurri reported him saying: I was born in the year two hundred and two , and the Encyclopaedia of Islam confirms the year 202/817 . His nisba points to the province of Sijistan bordering Sind, not to a village near Basra as some wrongly held .
Abu Dawud's first journey: Baghdad, Basra and Mecca, 220/835 — c. 835 CE · 220 AH
In his own words, reported by Abu Ubayd al-Ajurri: he prayed over 'Affan at Baghdad in 220; he entered Basra as they were saying Uthman ibn al-Haytham the mu'adhdhin had died the day before — he had died in Rajab 220 — hearing Abu 'Amr al-Darir in a single session and following 'Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ghiyath home without hearing him; and at Mecca, in the pilgrimage days of 220, he heard al-Qa'nabi, Sulayman ibn Harb and others .
Abu Dawud at Kufa, 221/836, and Damascus, 222/837 — c. 836 CE · 221 AH
Abu 'Isa al-Azraq heard him say: I entered Kufa in the year twenty-one and went to 'Umar ibn Hafs's house but was not granted a hearing; and Abu Dawud said: I entered Damascus in the year twenty-two . At Kufa he heard al-Hasan ibn al-Rabi' al-Burani, Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Yarbu'i and a circle of others, and at Damascus Safwan ibn Salih, Hisham ibn 'Ammar and a circle of others .
Abu Dawud's wider journey: Egypt, the Jazira, Harran and Aleppo — c. 845 CE · c. 230 AH
Abu Dawud heard a great many teachers in the Hijaz, Egypt, al-Sham, the frontier and Khurasan; Abu Ja'far al-Nufayli and a circle in the Jazira; Abu Tawba al-Rabi' ibn Nafi' at Aleppo; Ahmad ibn Abi Shu'ayb at Harran; and Haywa and Yazid ibn 'Abd Rabbih at Homs . In his Sunan he recalls measuring a cucumber thirteen spans at Egypt and seeing a citron carried on a camel cut into two halves . This wider circuit falls in the 230s of the hijra, after his first journey and before he settled at Basra.
Abu Dawud in Khurasan: Qutayba and Ibn Rahwayh, before 240/854 — c. 850 CE · c. 235 AH
Abu Dawud heard Qutayba ibn Sa'id, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh and a circle of others in Khurasan ; and Abu 'Abdallah al-Hakim said he took down hadith in Khurasan before leaving for Iraq, in his own land and at Herat, and that he had written early at Nishapur, later travelling with his son to Khurasan . Since Qutayba died in 240 and Ibn Rahwayh in 238, these hearings fall in the 230s of the hijra.
The Sunan composed and shown to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, before 241/855 — c. 855 CE · c. 240 AH
It is said that Abu Dawud composed the Sunan and presented it to the Imam Ahmad, who admired and approved it , a report the Encyclopaedia of Islam confirms . Ibn Dasa heard him say: I wrote down five hundred thousand traditions from the Messenger of God and selected from them what I placed in the Sunan — four thousand eight hundred traditions — naming the sound ones and those resembling or approaching them . He read law with Ahmad ibn Hanbal, kept his company for a time and was among the elite of his pupils ; as Ahmad died in 241, the presentation falls before that year.
Al-Muwaffaq's three wishes: Abu Dawud settles at Basra, c. 272/885 — c. 884 CE · c. 272 AH
Al-Khattabi reported from Abu Bakr ibn Jabir, Abu Dawud's servant: I was with Abu Dawud at Baghdad when, after the sunset prayer, the amir Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq came in. Abu Dawud asked what brought the amir at such an hour, and he answered: three wishes — move to Basra and make it your home so that seekers of knowledge travel to you and it flourishes through you, for it lies ruined and deserted after the ordeal of the Zanj; transmit the Sunan to my sons; and hold them a separate session, for the sons of caliphs do not sit with the common folk. Abu Dawud answered: as for that, there is no way — people are equal in knowledge. So the princes attended, sitting behind a curtain drawn over a sleeve, hearing with the rest . He accordingly settled at Basra .
Death of Abu Dawud al-Sijistani at Basra, 16 Shawwal 275/Feb 889 — c. 19 February 889 CE · 16 Shawwal 275 AH
Abu Ubayd al-Ajurri said: he died on the sixteenth of Shawwal in the year two hundred and seventy-five , which the Encyclopaedia of Islam renders as Shawwal 275/February 889 . He had made Basra his home, and there death overtook him.
Death: Abu Dawud al-Sijistani — c. 19 February 889 CE · 16 Shawwal 275 AH
A muhaddith of Sijistan and author of the Sunan, one of the six canonical books; born in 202/817, he travelled widely for hadith, settled at Basra and died in Shawwal 275/889. His book is known for the notes he adds on the value of its traditions, and holds 4,800 traditions selected from 500,000; it was handed down in several versions, of which al-Lu'lu'i's is the most favoured .
