Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem
Al-Khataabee narrated: Abdullaah bn Muhammad al-miskee narrated to me: Aboo Bakr bn Jabir servant of Aboo Daawud narrated to me: I was with Aboo Daawud in Baghdad, we observed Maghrib then came the Ameer Aboo Ahmad al-Muwaffaq – the heir to the throne – then Aboo Daawud turned to him. He said: ‘What has brought the Ameer at this time?’ The Ameer said: ‘Three matters.’ He said: ‘What are they?’ He replied: ‘That you should move to Basrah and take it an abode so that students of knowledge can travel to you with that you will bring life back to the city after it had become desolate and forsaken by the people because of the tribulations visited on it by az-ZInj.’ Aboo Daawud said: ‘That is one.’ He said: ‘I want you to narrate [your] Sunan to my children.’ He said: ‘No problem; let me know the third.’ He said: ‘I want you to single a sitting for them; children of caliphs are not expected to sit with the masses.’ Aboo Daawud said: ‘As for that demand, no way. People are equal in knowledge acquisition.’
Ibn Jabir said: ‘I saw them come to the gatherings sitting and listening as the masses did.’
Adapted from Siyar ‘Alaamin Nubalaa under the biography of Aboo Daawud As-Sijstaanee.
