Dawud ibn Ali al-Isbahani

Abu Sulayman Dawud ibn Ali ibn Dawud ibn Khalaf al-Isbahani, the first to adopt the apparent meaning of texts. He took the Book and the Sunna and set aside all other sources, including opinion and analogy, according to al-Mas'udi. ²

Al-Mas'udi describes him as a virtuous, truthful and pious man, and says that he died in Baghdad in 270 AH. ² Al-Shirazi mentions that he was born in 202 AH. ³

He studied under Ishaq ibn Rahwayh and Abu Thawr. ³ Abu Ja'far al-Tabari read jurisprudence under him. ⁴

Ibn al-Nadim lists among his books al-Idah, al-Ifsah, al-Da'wa, al-Bayyinat, al-Usul and al-Hayd. He then wrote on every chapter of jurisprudence, from purification to the etiquette of the judge. His Book of Marriage reached a thousand folios, and his Book of Obligatory Fasting six hundred. ⁴

Another page covers the same person under the name Dawud al-Zahiri.