Kisah Ibnu Rahwaih, 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 sedang membahas beberapa masalah fikih dengan seorang ulama lain di ruang pribadi ‘Abdullah bin Thahir. Keduanya berselisih tentang teks sebuah kitab tertentu. Ibnu Rahwaih meminta ‘Abdullah bin Thahir agar kitab tersebut dipinjam dari perpustakaannya. Kitab itu pun dibawa ke hadapan kedua ulama tersebut. Ibnu ‘Asakir menulis dalam kitab Tarikh Dimasyq bahwa setelah perselisihan itu, Ibnu Rahwaih berkata kepada ‘Abdullah bin Thahir, “Bukalah halaman kesebelas dari kitab itu, pada baris ketujuh engkau akan menemukan apa yang sedang aku katakan.” ‘Abdullah bin Thahir membuka halaman kesebelas dan mendapatinya persis seperti yang dikutip oleh Ibnu Rahwaih. Pada saat itu, ‘Abdullah bin Thahir pun berkata kepada Ibnu Rahwaih, “Aku tahu engkau telah menghafal banyak hukum syariat, tetapi kemampuan hafalanmu yang tajam dan luar biasa ini benar-benar membuatku takjub.”10

The story of Ibn Rahwai, the teacher of Imam Bukhari, 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 Asakir writes in The History of Damascus that after this disagreement, Ibn Rahwai said to ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir, “Open to the eleventh page of the book, on the seventh line you will find what I have been saying.” ‘Abd Allah ibnTahir 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.”10

Kejadian ini tidak meragukan ketajaman hafalan Ibn Rahwai, namun bukankah kita menemukan para huffaz di hampir setiap daerah, kota, dan desa yang membaca ayat-ayat Al-Qur'an dan dapat segera menemukan tempatnya dalam Al-Qur'an? Kenyataannya, Ibn Rahwai bukanlah satu-satunya contoh di kalangan ulama yang menghafal hadis-hadis Nabi Muhammad 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 صلى الله عليه وسلم.