Dawud b. al-Nu'man: Difference between revisions

Family of Dawud were Nakha'i from [[Kufa]] and were in [[wala' al-'Itq|Wala']] covenant with [[Banu Hashim]]. Dawud b. al-Nu'man was also known as al-Anbari which seemingly refers to [[al-Anbar]] city where he lived, near [[Euphrates]], 10 [[Farsakh]]s from [[Baghdad]]. [[Al-Kashshi]] has mentioned him with the title of Bayya' al-Anmat (Arabic: {{ia|بیّاع الأنماط}}, seller of carpets), perhaps referring to his job which was selling carpet.

Al-Kashshi has praised Dawud with good qualities. [[Al-'Allama al-Hilli]],in ''[[Khulasat al-aqwal]]'', has also considered him reliable. But, he has not been considered so in other books of rijal.

[[Ahmad b. 'Ali al-Najashi|Al-Najashi]] first mentions [[Ali b. al-Nu'man al-A'lam]], the smaller brother of Dawud reliable and then says that Dawud was better than his brother. Some have considered al-'Allama al-Hilli's support of Dawud due to the mentioned speech of al-Najashi.

But, some others believe that al-Najashi's word does not mean as a support for him, and by the word "'Uluww" [elevation, promotion], al-Najashi meant promotion in level, speaking of which is common among scholars of rijal. The support for this opinion is al-Najashi's word in biography of Dawud b. al-Nu'man when he describes Dawud b. al-Nu'man using the word "Akbar" [bigger] which refers to him being older than Ali.

It is also thought probable that al-'Allama Hilli's word has root in the al-Kashshi's support. After mentioning the supportive comment, al-'Allama al-Hilli has mentioned al-Kashshi's word. Also, some have mentioned the weakness of the two previous probabilities, and have proposed the probability of the omission of the supportive phrase from recent copies of al-Najashi's rijal.

Since al-'Allama al-Hilli had access to the books of Ali b. Hakam, Sa'd b. 'Abd Allah, Ibn 'Uqda and others, later scholars referred to for checking reliability of people, some consider his support for reliability of person as proof. An evidence for this opinion is that no problem has occurred to those chains of hadiths in which Dawud b. al-Nu'man is mentioned and Ibn Abi 'Umayr and other reliable sources of hadiths have narrated from him.

[[Al-Shaykh al-Tusi]] has mentioned Dawud among the [[:Category:Companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a)|companions]] of [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]]. However, al-Najashi has doubted about narrating from Imam (a) by Dawud which may have been because most of the hadiths of Dawud are transmitted by one or two people after Imam (a). But, his direct hadiths from Imam (a) is against such as doubt.

Moreover, Dawud has also narrated from Abu 'Ubayda Ziyad b. 'Isa al-Hadhdha' who passed away at the time of Imam al-Sadiq (a).

Al-Najashi has considered Dawud among transmitters of [[Imam al-Kazim]]'s (a) hadiths and al-Shaykh al-Tusi has considered him among the companions of [[Imam al-Rida (a)]]. But, if al-Najashi's address of "A'la" about Dawud means "'uluww" [high] in level, he would not have met Imam al-Rida (a). Al-Kashshi too has mentioned the biography of Dawud among the [[:Category:Companions of Imam al-Rida (a)|companions]] of [[Imam al-Rida (a)]]. However, Dawud has no hadith from Imam al-Rida (a).

As well as his brother Ali, his sister's son, [['Ali b. Hakam]], [[Ibn Abi 'Umayr]], [[Ali b. Asbat]] and [[Yunus b. 'Abd al-Rahman]] have narrated hadiths from him.

According to al-Najashi, he had a book but no description is available for it now. From the appearance of al-Kashshi's word, it can be understood that Dawud made a will to pass his books to [[Muhammad b. Isma'il]]. Al-Kashshi's words in this regard have been considered partially omitted and they believe that he had meant Ali b. Numan.

== References ==

* The material for this article is mainly taken from [[:fa:داود بن نعمان|داود بن نعمان]] in Farsi WikiShia.