Kisah Ibnu Rohwaih, guru Imam Bukhari, dan anugerah hafalannya adalah kisah yang melekat pada namanya. Kisah tentang hafalan Ibnu Rahwaih banyak diriwayatkan di kalangan ulama. Suatu ketika, ia membahas beberapa persoalan fikih dengan seorang ulama lain di ruang pribadi ‘Abdullah bin Tahir. Mereka berselisih mengenai teks suatu kitab. Ibnu Rahwaih meminta ‘Abdullah bin Tahir agar kitab tersebut dipinjamkan dari perpustakaannya. Kitab itu pun dibawa ke hadapan kedua ulama tersebut. Ibnu ‘Asakir menulis dalam *Tarikh Dimasyq* bahwa setelah perselisihan itu, Ibnu Rahwaih berkata kepada ‘Abdullah bin Thahir, “Bukalah halaman kesebelas dari kitab ini, pada baris ketujuh engkau akan menemukan apa yang telah aku katakan.”

The story of Ibn Róhwai, the teacher of Imam Bukhórõ, and his gift of memory is a story that has stuck to his name. The story about the memory of Ibn Rahwai is widely narrated in scholarly circles. Once he was discussing some juridical issues with another scholar in the private chambers of ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir. They disagreed on the text of a certain book. Ibn Rahwai asked ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir to have the book checked out from his library. The book was brought before the two scholars. Ibn Asókir writes in The History of Damascus that after this disagreement, Ibn Róhwai said to ‘Abd Allóh ibn ùóhir, “Open to the eleventh page of the book, on the seventh line you will find what I have been saying.”.

‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir membalik ke halaman kesebelas dan mendapati isinya persis seperti yang dikutip Ibn Rahwai. Pada saat itu, ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir bangkit menanggapi keadaan dan berkata kepada Ibn Rahwai, “Aku tahu engkau banyak menghafal hukum-hukum Syariat, tetapi kemampuan ingatanmu yang tajam dan belum pernah ada sebelumnya ini benar-benar membuatku takjub.”

‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir flipped to the eleventh page and found it exactly as Ibn Rahwai had quoted. At this point, ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir rose to the occasion and said to Ibn Rahwai, “I knew you had a lot of Shari‘a rulings put to memory, but this unprecedented revelation of your sharp memory has indeed left me wonderstruck.”.

Kejadian ini tidak menyisakan keraguan tentang ketajaman hafalan Ibnu Rahwaih, tetapi bukankah kita juga menemukan para penghafal (huffaz) di hampir setiap daerah, kota, dan desa yang melafalkan ayat-ayat Al-Qur'an dan segera dapat menemukan letaknya dalam Al-Qur'an? Kenyataannya, Ibnu Rahwaih bukanlah satu-satunya contoh di kalangan ulama yang menghafal hadits Nabi ﷺ.

This incident leaves no doubt about the sharpness of Ibn Rahwai’s memory, but is it not true that we find Huffaz in almost every area, city and village who recite ayas of the Qur’an and can instantly locate its place in the Qur’an? The reality is that Ibn Rahwai is not the only example amongst the scholars who memorized Ahadith of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH).