I heard Maḥmūd ibn Ziyād al-Ḥanafī say—having heard it from al-Mukhtār ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Būshanjī—that Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dāwūdī prayed for forty years with his hand outside his sleeve, conscious of the Sunnah and in deference to one of the two legal opinions that the hands must be uncovered when they touch the ground in prostration.

Al-Silafī said: I asked al-Muʾtaman about al-Dāwūdī, and he replied, “He was one of the leading figures of Khurasan; from the moment the Turkmen entered the region he refrained from eating the flesh of animals or anything that comes from them.”

He acquired his legal training under Sahl al-Saʿlūkī and Abū Ḥāmid al-Isfarāʾīnī.

Ibn al-Najjār observed: “He was a foremost imam of the school, reliable, devout, and exacting. He taught, issued fatwas, authored books, and preached.”

Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī—the brother of Niẓām al-Mulk—said: “Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dāwūdī’s lips never ceased from the remembrance of Allah. A barber once wished to trim his moustache and said, ‘Keep your lips still.’ He replied, ‘Tell Time itself to keep still first.’”

My brother Niẓām al-Mulk visited him and sat humbly before him, whereupon Abū al-Ḥasan said to my brother, “Man! Allah has placed you in authority over His servants; look to the answer you will give Him when He asks you about them.” (1)

From his poetry:

Lord, accept the deeds I bring;
Disappoint not the hope I sing.
Set all my affairs aright
Before my term takes flight. (2)

And he also said:

O wine-drinker, seize repentance
Before leg is wound to leg in death.