Sunan Abi Dawud

we met ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar. We told him about divine decree and what they said about it. He then mentioned something similar to it. He added : A man of Muzainah or juhainah asked : What is the good in doing anything, Messenger of Allah ? should we think that a thing has passed and gone or a thing that has happened now (without predestination)? He replied : About a thing that has passed and gone (i.e. predestined). A man or some people asked: Then, why action? He replied: Those who are among the number of those who go to Paradise will be helped to do the deeds of the people who will go to Paradise, and those who are among the number of those who go to Hell will be helped to do the deeds of those who will go to Hell.

What is Islam? He replied : It means saying prayer, payment of zakat, performing HAJJ, fasting during RAMADAN, and taking a bath on account of sexual defilement. Abu Dawud said: 'Alqamah was a Murji'i.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to sit among his Companions. A stranger would come and not recognize him (the Prophet) until he asked (about him). So we asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to make a place where he might take his seat so that when a stranger came, he might recognise him. So we built a terrace of soil on which he would take his seat, and we would sit beside him. He then mentioned something similar to this Hadith saying: A man came, and he described his appearance. He saluted from the side of the assembly, saying: Peace be upon you, Muhammad. The Prophet (ﷺ) then responded to him.

I went to Ubayy b. Ka’b and said him : I am confused about Divine decree, so tell me something by means of which Allah may remove the confusion from my mind. He replied : were Allah to punish everyone in the heavens and in the earth. He would do so without being unjust to them, and were he to show mercy to them his mercy would be much better than their actions merited. Were you to spend in support of Allah’s cause an amount of gold equivalent to Uhud, Allah would not accept it from you till you believed in divine decree and knew that what has come to you could not miss you and that what has missed you could not come to you. Were you to die believing anything else you would enter Hell. He said : I then went to ‘Abd Allah b. MAs’ud and he said something to the same effect. I next went to Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and he said something to the same effect. I next went to Zaid b. Thabit who told me something from the Prophet (May peace be upon him) to the same effect.

Son! You will not get the taste of the reality of faith until you know that what has come to you could not miss you, and that what has missed you could not come to you. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: The first thing Allah created was the pen. He said to it: Write. It asked: What should I write, my Lord? He said: Write what was decreed about everything till the Last Hour comes. Son! I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say : He who dies on something other than this does not belong to me.

Adam and Moses held a disputation. Moses said : Adam you are our father. You deprived us and caused us to come out from Paradise. Adam said : You are Moses Allah chose you for his speech and wrote the Torah for you with his hand. Do you blame me for doing a deed which Allah had decreed that I should do forty year before he created me? So Adam got the better of Moses in argument. Ahmad b. Salih said from 'Amr from Tawus who heard Abu Hurairah.

Moses said : My lord, show us Adam who caused us and himself to come out from Paradise. So Allah showed him Adam. He asked : Are you our father, Adam? Adam said to him : Yes. He said : Are you the one into whom Allah breathed of his spirit, taught you all the names, and commanded angels (to prostrate) and they prostrated to you? He replied : Yes. He asked : Then what moved you to cause us and yourself to come out from paradise? Adam asked him : And who are you? He said : Yes. He asked : Did you not find that was decreed in the book (records) of Allah before I was created? He replied : Yes. He asked : Then why do you blame me about a thing for which Divine decree had already passed before me ? The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said : So Adam got the better of Moses in argument (peace be upon him).

Muslim ibn Yasar al-Juhani said: When Umar ibn al-Khattab was asked about the verse "When your Lord took their offspring from the backs of the children of Adam" - al-Qa'nabi recited the verse--he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say when he was questioned about it: Allah created Adam, then passed His right hand over his back, and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have these for Paradise and these will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise. He then passed His hand over his back and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have created these for Hell, and they will do the deeds of those who go to Hell. A man asked: What is the good of doing anything, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When Allah creates a servant for Paradise, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Paradise, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Paradise, for which He will bring him into Paradise. But when He creates a servant for Hell, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Hell, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Hell, for which He will bring him into Hell.

I was with ‘Umar b. al-Khattab when he transmitted this tradition. The tradition of Malik is more perfect.

The boy whom al-Khidr had killed was created an infidel. Had he lived, he would have moved his parents to rebellion and unbelief.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) explaining the verse “As for the youth his parents were people of Faith,” he was created infidel the day when he was created.

Ubayy b. Ka’b told me that the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said : Al-khidr saw a youth playing with boys. He took him by his head and uprooted it. Moses then said : Hast thou slain an innocent person who had slain none.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) who spoke the truth and whose word was belief told us the following : The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb, then they become a piece of congealed blood for a similar period, then they become a lump of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends to him an angel with four words who records his provision the period of his life, his deeds, and whether he will be miserable or blessed ; thereafter he breathes the spirit into him. One of you will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Hell and will enter it; and one of you will do the deeds of those who go to hell, so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him, so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise and will enter it.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) was asked : Is it known who are those who will go to paradise and those who will go to hell? He said : Yes. He asked : Then what is the good of doing anything by those who act? He replied : Everyone is helped to do for which he has been created.

Do not sit which those who believe in free will and do not address them before they address you.

Allah knows best about what they were doing.

I said : Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) what happens to the offspring of believers ? He replied : They are joined to their parents. I asked : Messenger of Allah! Although they have done nothing ? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing. I asked : what happens to the offspring of polytheists, Messenger of Allah ? he replied! They are joined to their parents. I asked : Although they have done nothing? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing.

The Prophet (May peace be upon him) was invited to the funeral of a boy who belonged to the ANSAR and I said; Messenger of Allah! This one is blessed, for he has done no evil, nor has he known it. He replied : It may be otherwise, ‘A’ishah, for Allah created Paradise and created those who will go to it, and He created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins; and he created hell and created those who will go to it, and created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins.

Every child is born on Islam, but his parents make him a Jew and a Christian, just as a beast is born whole. Do you find some among them (born) maimed? The people asked : Messenger of Allah! What do you think about the one who died while he was young? He replied : Allah knows best what he was going to do.

Malik was asked : The heretics argue from this tradition against us. Malik said : Argue against them from its last part which goes. The people asked : What do you think about the one who died while he was young? He replied : Allah knows best what he was going to do.

In our opinion it means that covenant which Allah had taken in the loins of their fathers when He said : “Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes.

The woman who buries alive her new-born girl and the girl who is buried alive both will go to Hell. This tradition has also been transmitted by Ibn Mas’ud from the Prophet (May peace be upon him) to the same effect through a different chain of narrators.

A man asked : where is my father, Messenger of Allah? He replied! Your father is in Hell. When he turned his back, he said : My father and your father are in Hell.

The devil flows in a man like his blood.

Do not sit with those who believe in free will and do not address them before they address you.

People will continue to ask one another(questions) till this is pronounced: Allah created all things, but who created Allah ? Whoever comes across anything of that, he should say: I believe in Allah.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: He then mentioned a tradition like it. This version adds: When they propound that, say: "Say Allah is one. Allah is He to Whom men repair. He has not begotten and He has not been begotten, and no one is equal to Him." Then one should spit three times on his left side and seek refuge in Allah from Satan.

I was sitting in al-Batha with a company among whom the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sitting, when a cloud passed above them. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) looked at it and said: What do you call this? They said: Sahab. He said: And muzn? They said: And muzn. He said: And anan? They said: And anan. AbuDawud said: I am not quite confident about the word anan. He asked: Do you know the distance between Heaven and Earth? They replied: We do not know. He then said: The distance between them is seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-three years. The heaven which is above it is at a similar distance (going on till he counted seven heavens). Above the seventh heaven there is a sea, the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches is like the distance between one heaven and the next. Then Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, is above that.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Simak through a different chain of narrators to the same effect.

The tradition mentioned above has again been transmitted by Simak through a different chain of narrators and to the same effect as this lengthy tradition.

An A’rab(a nomadic Arab) came to the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) and said: People suffering distress, the children are hungry, the crops are withered, and the animals are perished, so ask Allah to grant us rain, for we seek you as our intercessor with Allah, and Allah as intercessor with you. The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: Woe to you: Do you know what you are saying? Then the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) declared Allah’s glory and he continued declaring His glory till the effect of that was apparent in the faces of his Companions. He then said: Woe to you: Allah is not to be sought as intercessor with anyone. Allah’s state is greater than that. Woe to you! Do you know how great Allah is? His throne is above the heavens thus(indicating with his fingers like a dome over him), and it groans on account of Him as a saddle does because of the rider. Ibn Bashshar said in his version: Allah is above the throne, and the throne is above the heavens. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition. ‘Abd al-A’la, Ibn al- Muthana and Ibn Bashshar transmitted it from Ya’qub b. ‘Utbah and Jubair b. Muhammad b. Jubair from his father on the authority of his grandfather. Abu Dawud said: This tradition with the chain of Ahmad b. Sa’ad is sound. It has been approved by the body (of traditionists) , which includes Yahya b. Ma’in and ‘Ali b. al-Madani, and a group has transmitted it from Ibn Ishaq, as Ahmad also said. And so far as I have been informed ‘Abd al-A’la, Ibn al-Muthanna, and Ibn Bashshar had heard from the same copy(of the collection of tradition).

I have been permitted to tell about one of Allah’s angels who bears the throne that the distance between the lobe of his ear and his shoulder is a journey of seven hundred years.

I heard Abu Hurairah recite this verse : “Allah doth command you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due” up to “For Allah is he who heareth and seeth all things”. He said : I saw the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) putting his thumb on his ear and finger on his eye. Abu Hurairah said : I saw the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) reciting this verse and putting his fingers. Ibn Yunus said that al-Muqri said. “Allah hears and sees” means that Allah has the power of hearing and seeing. Abu Dawud said: This is a refutation of the Jahmiyyah.

When we are were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) he looked at the moon on the night when it was full, that is, fourteenth, and said : You will see your Lord as you see this (moon) and have no doubts about seeing him. If, therefore, you can keep from being prevented from prayer before the sun rises and before it sets, do so. He then recited :”Celebrate the praise of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting”.

The people asked : Messenger of Allah! Shall we see our lord, the Exalted, on the Day of resurrection? He replied : Do you feel any trouble in seeing the sun at noon when it is not in the cloud? They said: No. He asked : Do you feel any trouble in seeing the moon on the night when it is full and not in the cloud? They replied: No. He said: By him in whose hand my soul is, you will not feel any trouble in seeing him except as much as you feel in seeing any of them.

I asked: Messenger of Allah! will each one of us see his Lord? Ibn Mu'adh's version has: "being alone with Him, on the Day of Resurrection? And what sign is there is His creation?" He replied: AbuRazin! does each one of you not see the moon? Ibn Mu'adh's version has: "on the night when it is full, being alone with it?" Then the agreed version goes: I said: Yes. He said: Allah is more great. Ibn Mu'adh's version has: It is only part of Allah's creation, but Allah is more glorious and greater.

Allah will fold the heavens an the day of Resurrection, then seizing them in His right hand he will say: I am the king. Where are the mighty men? Where are the proud men? He will then fold the earths and take them in his other hand (According to the version of Ibn al-Ala), and then say ; I am the King. Where are the mighty men? Where are the proud men?

(Is there anyone) who prays to Me so that I may accept his prayer? (Is there anyone) who asks of Me so that I may give him? (Is there anyone) who asks for my forgiveness so that I may forgive him?

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) presented himself to the people at Arafat, saying: Is there any man who takes me to his people? The Quraysh have prevented me from preaching the word of my Lord.

I thought in my mind that my affair was far inferior to the speaking of Allah about me with a command that will be recited.

I was with the Negus when his son recited a verse of the Gospel. So I laughed. Thereupon he said : Do you laugh at the word of Allah, the Exalted?

The Prophet (May peace be upon him) used to seek refuge in Allah for al-Hasan and al-husain, saying ; I seek refuge for both of you in the perfect words of Allah from every devil and every poisonous thing and from the evil eye which influences. He would then say; your father sought refuge in Allah by them for Ismail and Ishaq. Abu Dawud said; this is a proof of the fact that the Quran is not created.

"When Allah, the exalted, speaks to send revelation, the inhabitants of heaven hear the clanging of a bell from the heavens like a chain being dragged across a rock, and they swoon. They continue to remain like that until Jibril comes to them. When he comes to them, they recover and say: 'O Jibril, what did your Lord say?' He would say: 'The truth,' and they would say: 'The truth, the truth.'"

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: My intercession will be for those of my people who have committed major sins.

People will come forth from Hell by Muhammad’s intercession, will enter paradise and be named Jahannamis.

I heard the Prophet(ﷺ) say: Those who go to Paradise will eat in it and drink.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The trumpet (sur) which will be blown.

Every son of Adam will be devoured by the earth with the exception of the tail-bone from which he was created and from which he will be reconstituted.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When Allah created Paradise, He said to Gabriel: Go and look at it. He went and looked at it, then came and said: O my Lord! By Thy might, no one who hears of it will fail to enter it. He then surrounded it with disagreeable things, and said: Go and look at it, Gabriel. He went and looked at it, then came and said: O my Lord! By Thy might, I am afraid that no one will enter it. When Allah created Hell, He said: Go and look at it, Gabriel. He went and looked at it, then came and said: O my Lord! By Thy might, no one who hears of it will enter it. He then surrounded it with desirable things and said: Go and look at it, Gabriel. He went, looked at it, then came and said: O my Lord! By Thy might and power, I am afraid that no one will remain who does not enter it.

Before you there will be a pond the distance between whose sides is like that between Jarbah and Adhruh.