Daif Abi Dawud - al-Umm
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat Ghirās lil-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
Daif Abi Dawud – al-Umm (Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd – al-Umm) is an unabridged hadith criticism work by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE), providing exhaustive evaluation and authentication of the weak narrations in Sunan Abi Dawud by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (d. 275 AH / 889 CE) .
Purpose and Methodology
The work serves as the parent source (al-Kitāb al-Umm or al-Aṣl) for al-Albani's grading of narrations in Sunan Abi Dawud, distinguishing it from his abridged summary editions . In the introduction to the first volume of his Mukhtaṣar Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, al-Albani clarified that his cross-references to Daʿīf Abī Dāwūd throughout his wider writings refer specifically to this comprehensive unabridged text .
In al-Umm, al-Albani applies an extensive methodology of hadith extraction (takhrīj muṭawwal), mirroring the approach he utilized in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahiha and Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Daifa . He examines the chains of transmission (asānīd) and narrators (rijāl) in full detail—evaluating trustworthiness, defects, and biographical reliability (al-jarḥ wa-al-taʿdīl)—and traces transmission routes across diverse classical sources, including unpublished manuscripts .
Structure and Publication
Al-Albani did not write a dedicated introduction for Daʿīf Abī Dāwūd, leaving several blank leaves at the beginning of the manuscript . When prepared for publication, the editors aligned the numbering and headings of the legal chapters (abwāb) with its companion work, Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd (al-Umm), to facilitate parallel study . Where al-Albani had recorded revised assessments transferring specific hadiths between the Ṣaḥīḥ and Ḍaʿīf compilations, the editors carried out those instructions and documented the shifts in the footnotes .
The book was published in two volumes by Muʾassasat Gherās in Kuwait in its first edition in 1423 AH (2002 CE) . The first volume contains narrations 1 through 199, covering the chapters of purification (al-Ṭahārah) and prayer (al-Ṣalāh) .
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