Kisah Ibn Rāhawayh, guru Imam Bukhārī, dan anugerah ingatannya ialah kisah yang melekat pada namanya. Kisah tentang ingatan Ibn Rāhawayh banyak diriwayatkan di kalangan ulama. Pada suatu ketika, beliau sedang membincangkan beberapa isu fiqh dengan seorang ulama lain di dalam bilik peribadi ‘Abdullāh ibn Ṭāhir. Mereka berselisih pendapat mengenai teks sebuah kitab tertentu. Ibn Rāhawayh meminta ‘Abdullāh ibn Ṭāhir supaya kitab itu dipinjam dari perpustakaannya. Kitab tersebut dibawa ke hadapan kedua-dua ulama itu. Ibn ‘Asākir menulis dalam kitab Tārīkh Dimashq bahawa selepas perselisihan ini, Ibn Rāhawayh berkata kepada ‘Abdullāh ibn Ṭāhir, “Bukalah halaman kesebelas kitab itu, pada baris ketujuh, engkau akan dapati apa yang aku katakan tadi.”

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 membuka halaman kesebelas dan mendapati ia sama persis seperti yang telah dipetik oleh Ibn Rahwai. Pada ketika itu, ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir bangkit menghadapi keadaan tersebut lalu berkata kepada Ibn Rahwai, "Saya tahu bahawa anda menghafal banyak hukum Syariat, tetapi bukti yang belum pernah ada sebelum ini tentang ketajaman ingatan anda benar-benar membuatkan saya kagum."

‘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 jelas menunjukkan ketajaman ingatan Ibn Rahwai, namun bukankah kita dapati para Huffaz di hampir setiap kawasan, bandar dan kampung yang membaca ayat-ayat al-Qur'an dan dapat segera menentukan kedudukannya dalam al-Qur'an? Hakikatnya, Ibn Rahwai bukanlah satu-satunya contoh dalam kalangan ulama yang menghafal hadith-hadith 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).