Abū Sulaymān Dāwūd b. ʿAlī b. Khalaf al-Iṣfahānī al-Ẓāhirī (d. 270/884) was an important Muslim jurisprudent. His grandfather seems to have been a client of the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mahdī (r. 158-69/775-85). Dāwūd was born in Kufa but grew up in Baghdad and was active primarily there. The sources give various years for his birth: 200/815-6, 201/816-17, 202/817-8, and 208/823-4. He was called "al-Iṣfahānī" because his family (or his mother alone) was originally from a