Ishaq ibn Rahuyah (Arabic: إسحاق بن رَاهَوَيْه/رَاهُوْيَه, romanized: Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Makhlad ibn Rāhūyah/Rāhawayh; b. 161 AH? - d. 238 AH / b. 777-8 CE - d. 853 CE)[2][3] was a classical Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, muhaddith, exegete, and theologian. A close friend of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, he accompanied him on his travels to seek knowledge[10] and he was also a teacher of Imam Bukhari and inspired him to compile the Sahih al-Bukhari.
Origin of the Name
His nickname "Ibn Rāhūyah" is said to have originated from his father who was born on a road towards Mecca:
Aḥmad ibn Salama said: I heard Isḥāq ibn Rāhūyah say: The Emir Abd Allah bin Ṭāhir said to me: Why were you called Ibn Rāhūyah? And what does it mean? And do you dislike being called by that? He (Isḥāq) said: Know that O' Emir that my father was born on a road towards Mecca, so the people of Marw called him: Rāhūyah, for he was born upon the road (to Mecca), and my father disliked that. As for me, I do not dislike it.[11]
The nickname is pronounced Rāhūyah in classical Persian is Arabized as Rāhawayh.
Influence
Ibn Rahuyah inspired Muhammad bin Ismail al-Bukhari to compile Sahih al-Bukhari. Al-Bukhari stated, "We were with our teacher Ishaq ibn Rahuyah when he said, 'If only someone would compile a compact book for the authentic hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.' That stirred something in my heart, so I set out in compiling al-Jami' al-Sahih".[12]
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. p. 6. ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^قال البخاري : كنا عند إسحاق بن راهويه فقال : لو جمعتم كتاباً مختصراً لصحيح سنة النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم . قال : فوقع ذلك في قلبي فأخذت في جمع الجامع الصحيح[citation needed]
