he related:

“One night I sat copying ahadith for a very long time. I wrote so much that I could no longer keep count, until fatigue overtook me. I went outside to look at the sky—it was still the early part of the night—then returned home and wrote until exhaustion came over me again. I stepped out once more and found that it was now the last part of the night. I completed my section, prayed Fajr, and afterward went to a merchant who was entering his accounts. He dated them ‘Saturday.’ I exclaimed, ‘Glory be to Allah! Is today not Friday?’

He laughed and replied, ‘Perhaps you did not attend the congregational mosque yesterday?’

I reflected and realized that I had in fact been writing for two whole nights and a day.”

Abu Ya‘la al-Khalili, in his book on the teachers of Ibn Salamah al-Qattan, says: “Ibrahim was nicknamed ‘Sifannah’ because of the large number of fascicles he kept tucked into his sleeve. He would say, ‘There are fifty fascicles in my sleeve, each containing a thousand hadiths…,’ and he added, ‘He is renowned for his expertise in this field.’ He further stated that Ibrahim died in 277 AH, but in this he was mistaken.

It is reported from ‘Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Dinawari: ‘We used to review hadith with Ibrahim ibn al-Husayn, and he would review with us from an entire qimtar. We would mention a single report and he would say, “I have a whole qimtar on it”—meaning all its chains of transmission, hidden defects, and variant wordings.’

The correct date of his death is that recorded by ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Falaki, who wrote: ‘at the end of Sha‘ban in 281 AH.’ The same dating was given by al-Qasim ibn Abi Salih.

Narrated to us by the judge Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Khaliq ibn ‘Ulwan (1) in Ba‘labakk, who said