al-Nasa'i

Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb ibn Ali ibn Sinan al-Nasa'i al-Khurasani was born in Nasa (modern Turkmenistan). He traveled extensively through the Islamic world, collecting hadiths. He settled in Egypt for most of his life. His al-Mujtaba (known as Sunan al-Nasa'i or al-Sunan al-Sughra) is one of the six canonical hadith collections. He first wrote a larger collection (al-Sunan al-Kubra) and then condensed it to al-Mujtaba, selecting what he considered most reliable. He is known for particularly strict standards in evaluating narrators. He died in Palestine (some say Mecca) in 303 AH, reportedly after being beaten by supporters of Mu'awiyah for writing a book on the virtues of 'Ali.