At a glance
- Era
- The Early Abbasid Caliphate
- Region
- Levant & Iraq
- Review
- Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Overview
It is said that Abu Dawud composed the Sunan and presented it to the Imam Ahmad, who admired and approved it 1; as Ahmad died in 241 the presentation falls before that year.
From five hundred thousand to four thousand eight hundred
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 3. He was the first to attach detailed notes on their value to the traditions themselves, paving the way for the more systematic criticism of his pupil al-Tirmidhi 2.
Connections
- Had participant
- Abu Dawud al-Sijistani· Ahmad ibn Hanbal
- Occurred at
- Baghdad
People and things also explored
Abu Dawud's first journey: Baghdad, Basra and Mecca, 220/835· Al-Muwaffaq's three wishes: Abu Dawud settles at Basra, c. 272/885· Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj hears Ahmad ibn Hanbal and gathers his Questions, c. 220/835· The Imam· Abu Dawud al-Sijistani· Ahmad ibn Hanbal· The Nizamiyya Madrasa of Baghdad· Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom
Sources
- Tarikh al-Islam wa-Wafayat al-Mashahir wa-l-A'lam — al-Dhahabi , p. 359
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 1 p. 133
- Tarikh al-Islam wa-Wafayat al-Mashahir wa-l-A'lam — al-Dhahabi , p. 360
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The Sunan composed and shown to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, before 241/855”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/abu-dawud-sunan-ahmad-240/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.