off thread-topic, but i also heard that Imam Bukhari did the same before he wrote a hadith for his Sahih. is this true?
imam abu ibrahim ismayil al-muzani was born in 175 AH (in the very year layth ibn sa'ad passed away) and was the student of `ali ibn ma'abad ibn shaddad, nu`aym ibn Hammad, imam shafiyi - and is known as his foremost disciple. indeed imam shafiyi is himself reported to have said: "muzani is the foremost advocate of my madh'hab" [al-muzani naSiru madh'habi] imams who narrated from him are: ibn khuzaymah, TaHawiy, zakariyyah al-saji, ibn jawSaa, ibn abi-Hatim etc. he was a mountain of knowledge, an adept debator; imam shafiyi said: "he can subdue even the devil in a debate". he was an ascetic, immensely scrupulous, Godfearing and pious; frugal about dunya, and a person whose du'a was accepted. if he ever missed the congregation (jama'ah) for prayer, he would repeat the same prayer twenty-five times. it is said that he prayed two-raka'ah after every article (mas'alah) he wrote down in his mukhtaSar. he would volunteer to wash the dead and would say: "i do it to soften my heart". he passed away in 264 AH. --- he is imam TaHawiy's maternal uncle. based on the biographical note in Tabaqat al-Shafayiyyah, imam subki, 2/93.
