Others said that they flung his body out dead, whereupon the street urchins tied a rope to his leg and dragged him through the lanes of Damascus.
He was ill-favoured in stature, with a huge beard—We seek refuge in Allah from oppression and its consequences.
198 – Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī*, son of the community’s scholar (ḥibr al-umma) ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī, the uncle of al-Saffāḥ; the emir, Abū Sulaymān.
He narrated from his father, and was in turn narrated from by al-Awzāʿī, al-Thawrī, Sharīk, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ.
He has a lengthy hadith on supplication (1).
It is reported from him only through Ibn Abī Laylā and Qays, and it does not constitute authoritative evidence. The report is classed as munkar, and the critics did not venture to relax their standards for material of this sort, even though it supported their dynasty.
Dāwūd was a man of valor, dominance, gravity, power, and eloquence. It was said that he espoused Qadari views on predestination.
When al-Saffāḥ rose to address the people on the day he received the pledge of allegiance, he faltered; his uncle Dāwūd stepped forward in his stead, delivered an eloquent, concise address, and broadened the people’s hopes.
(*) Al-Mukhbir, p. 33; al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil, vol. 3, p. 418; al-ʿIqd al-Farid, vol. 4, pp. 100–101; Tahdhib al-Kamal, p. 391; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 1, p. 206, no. 2; Tarikh al-Islam, vol. 5, p. 242; Mizan al-Iʿtidal, vol. 2, p. 13; al-ʿIqd al-Thamin, vol. 4, pp. 349, 354; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 3, p. 194; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, p. 110; Shadharat al-Dhahab, vol. 1, p. 191; Tahdhib Ibn ʿAsakir, vol. 5, p. 206.
(1) Related by al-Tirmidhi (no. 3419) in the Book of Supplications through the chain: ʿAbd Allah b. Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Rahman – from Muhammad b. ʿImran b. Abi Layla – who said, “My father narrated to me” – who said, “Ibn Abi Layla narrated to me from Dawud b. ʿAli (the son of ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbbas) – from his father – from his grandfather ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbbas, who said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say one night, after he had finished his prayer: “O Allah, I ask You for a mercy from You by which You guide my heart, gather my affairs, mend what is scattered in me, set right what is absent, raise what is present, purify my deeds, inspire me with right guidance, restore my companionship, and protect me from every evil.”
This long hadith is weak. No critic other than Ibn Hibban declared the father of Muhammad b. ʿImran trustworthy, and his own father had a poor memory. Ibn Hibban listed Dawud b. ʿAli among the reliable but noted that he made mistakes. Ibn Maʿin said, “I hope he is not a liar,” and Ibn ʿAdi stated, “In my view, there is no harm in his narrations from his father from his grandfather.”