Abū Is'hāq Ibrāhīm son of Muhammad son of Sa'eed son of Hilāl Thaqafī Isfahānī was a great Shi'a scholar and a narrator of Hadīths (Traditions or Quotes of the holy Prophet and his succeeding infallible Imams A.S.). His exact date of birth is not known; however, it is clear that he belonged to the early third century Hegira, and that he was born in Kufah. The city of Kufah was famous for the devotees of the household of Imam Ali (A.S.) who lived therein. Abū Is'hāq, in his early age, followed the Zaidi School of Thought and later he chose the Imamiyah (Shi'a) School of Thought as the rightful one.
Wahīd Behbahānī in his annotations to the book "Minhāj-ul-Maqāl" writes: "Invitation of Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Muhammad Thaqafī by Ulamā of Qum and Kufah, also his numerous writings, and the Sheikh's invocation for Allah's blessings on him, as well as reposing of confidence in him by Ibn-e Tāwūs, all are in justification of his excellence and high esteem."
Muhaddith Nūrī says: "He is a great Shi'a narrator and author of many works; great personalities like Saffār, Sa'd Ibn-e Abdullah, and Ahmad Ibn-e Abdullah have quoted narrations from him".
The reason why Abū Is'hāq left Kufah for Isfahan was his book "Al-Ma'rifah" which he wrote on acclamation of the Ahl-ul-Bayt (A.S.) virtues as well as on refutation of the enemies of the Ahl-ul-Bayt (A.S.). Some of the wise men of Kufah asked him not to publish it because of its contents that spoke out against the enemies of Ahl-ul-Bayt (A.S.), which could probably provoke the latter. However, the writer (Abū Is'hāq) had so much confidence in the truthfulness of what he wrote that he did not refrain from publishing the book. He went a step further by swearing to publish it in Isfahan, a city that was farther from the school of thought of Shi'a on those days and generally showed more opposition to Shiite ideas. For this purpose he shifted himself to Isfahan and arranged to publish his book.
A group of distinguished Shi'a Ulamā of Qum, including Ahmad Ibn-e Abī Abdullah Barqī, a senior ālim (Islamic scholar) who wrote the esteemed book: "Al-Mahāsin", came to Abū Is'hāq and requested him to shift himself to the city of Qum, but he did not accede to their request. He spent the rest of his life in Isfahan and devoted himself to propagating the Ja'fari School of thought in that area. Prominent narrators of Isfahan such as Hasan Za'farānī and Ahmad Ibn-e Alawiyeh Isfahānī got a lot out of his residence in Isfahan. For the same reason he is also known as Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Sa'eed Isfahānī.
Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Hilāl Thaqafī's teachers in Kufah belonged to the circle of great Shi'a Ulamā and highly-esteemed narrators like Abū Na'eem Fazl Ibn-e Dakīn, Ismā'eel Ibn-e Abān, Yūnus Ibn-e Ubaid, Abul Hasan Madāenī, Ibn-e Abī Saif, and Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Uyūn.
His students were numerous too; they included Abbās Ibn-e Sarmī, Muhammad Ibn-e Zaid Rattāb, Ahmad Ibn-e Alawiyeh Isfahānī (alias Abul Aswad), Abdul Rahmān Ibn-e Ibrāhīm Musta'lī, Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Hāshem, Muhammad Ibn-e Hasan Saffār, Sa'd Ibn-e Abdullah, Ahmad Ibn-e Abī Abdullah Barqī, among many other bright figures and narrators of Shi'a.
Ibrāhīm Ibn-e Hilāl Thaqafī written nearly fifty books. Unfortunately almost all his books have been lost because of unpleasant and destructive events, as it has occurred to many other valuable ancient works. Going over the bibliographies of the available books, only one book entitled "Al-Ghārāt" was saved; and it is today by the Grace of the Almighty - made available to the interested ones. This is the only book that has served to immortalize the name of the author and to contribute to rest his soul in peac.However, all we know about other writings of Ibn-e Hilāl Thaqafī is the list of their titles, namely: "Al-Maghāzī", "Al-Saqīfah" "Al-Raddah," "Maqtal-e Uthmān", "Al-Shūrā", "Bay'at-e Amir-ul-Mu'menīn (A.S.)", "Qiyām-e Hasan Ibn-e Alī (A.S.)", "Maqtal-ul-Hussain (A.S.)", etc.
Abū Is'hāq died in Isfahan in the year 283 A.H.