Abu ʿAbd al-Hakim said, “Al-Bukhari first arrived in Nishapur in the year 209 AH, and he returned there once more in 250 AH. He remained for five full years, continuously teaching hadith.”
Abu Hafs ibn al-Qawwas informed us; Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Harastani read it to us in 609 AH while I was present; Abu al-Hasan ʿAli ibn Muslim the jurist related; al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Khatib related; Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ghassani related; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Adam told me; Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Bukhari told us: “One night I was with Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil in his house, and I counted that he got up, lit the lamp, and reviewed matters he wished to note down eighteen times in that single night (1).”
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim al-Warraq said, “Whenever I travelled with Abu ʿAbd Allah, we would share a single room—except on some of the hottest summer nights—and I would see him rise in a single night between fifteen and twenty times. Each time he would take the fire-steel, strike a spark, light the lamp, bring out the hadiths, and mark them (2).”
Ibn ʿAdiyy said, “I heard ʿAbd al-Quddus ibn Hammam say: I heard a number of shaykhs affirm that Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil arranged the chapter headings of his collection between the Messenger of Allah’s grave and his pulpit—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and that he would perform two rakʿahs of prayer for each heading (3).”