The book of the Sunan by the noble Imam Abu Dawud, Suleiman bin Ash`ath bin Ishaq bin Bashir bin Shaddad Al-Azdi As-Sijistani, who died in the year 275 AH, is one of the six books, and the first of the four books, among the most important of those books in which hadeeth are compiled. There are many virtues and benefits to this book which resulted in the scholars of hadeeth occupying themselves with the knowledge of hadeeth since it first became popular, causing it to spread around the world.
It is no secret to the avid reader that most of the scholars agree that Sunan Abu Dawud is the best of the four Sunan books, being ranked as third in importance behind Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. It is also well known that some of the scholars have said that if a person has the Book of Allah, and this Sunan of Abu Dawud, then he has the fundamental texts of the religion.
Such statements are a testament to the veracity of Imam Abu Dawud and his compilation. The Arabic text of Sunan Abu Dawud has been widely published in the Islamic world, and a team of scholars has reviewed the famous publications and manuscripts in verification of the text for our publication of the Arabic text. For this English translation of Sunan Abu Dawud, translating was done by Yaser Qadhi (USA) and Nasiruddin al-Khattab (Canada) and editing by Huda Khattab (Canada), finally reviewed by Abu Khaliyl (USA).