This is an authentic, singular ḥadith (1). Al-Tirmidhī also recorded it through the chain of ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAmr, and it is one of his exclusive narrations.
A number of elevated isnād have reached us from Abū Dāwūd, together with his book al-Nāsiḫ.
After the downfall of the vile Zanj despot, he settled in Basra, spread knowledge there, and used to travel regularly to Baghdad.
Al-Khaṭīb Abū Bakr said: It is reported that he compiled his Sunan in earlier days, presented it to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and Aḥmad found it excellent and commended it (2).
Abū ʿUbayd said: I heard Abū Dāwūd say, “I met Khālid ibn Khidāsh but did not transmit from him; nor did I transmit from Yūsuf al-Ṣaffār, Ibn al-Aṣbahānī, or ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād—ḥadith is sustenance (3).”
Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurrī said: Abū Dāwūd would not relate from Ibn al-Ḥimmānī, Suwayd, Ibn Kāsib, Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd, or Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ (4).
Abū Bakr ibn Dāsah reported: I heard Abū Dāwūd say, “I wrote down five hundred thousand ḥadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and from that total I extracted what I included in this book—namely: