(1) Its chain of transmission is weak because of the weakness of Abu Zukayr. Al-Bukhari also recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 785) through the route of Muhammad b. Salam, from Yahya b. Muhammad—whom he designates “Abu Amr”—from ʿAmr the freedman (mawla) of al-Muttalib, from Anas. The word al-wadd means lahw wa laʿb (pastime and play). (2) The full wording runs: he said, “Had you pronounced at nightfall, ‘Aʿudhu bi-kalimat Allah al-tammāt min sharri mā khalaq (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created),’ it would not have harmed you.” The narrator adds: “I recited these words on another night; I was stung, yet I suffered no harm.” The author of al-Mizan comments, after citing the hadith: “People transmitted it from Suhayl and attributed it to Abu Hurayra.” I note that Ibn Majah (no. 3518, Book of Medicine) and Ahmad 2/290, 375 record it through several chains from Suhayl b. Abi Salih, from his father, from Abu Hurayra. Al-Busiri, in al-Zawaʾid, fol. 219/2, writes: “This isnad is sound; all its narrators are reliable,” and he ascribes it to al-Nasaʾi in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-l-Layla, via Ibrahim b. Yusuf al-Kufi—ʿUbayd Allah al-Ashjaʿi—Sufyan—Suhayl b. Abi Salih—his father—Abu Hurayra. Muslim (no. 2709, Book of Remembrance and Supplication) transmits it through Yaʿqub b. ʿAbd Allah al-Ashajj—al-Qaʿqaʿ b. Hakim—Dhakwan Abu Salih—Abu Hurayra; Abu Dawud (no. 3898) through Ahmad b. Yunus—Zuhayr—Suhayl b. Abi Salih—his father, who related: “I heard a man from Aslam say: I was sitting with the Messenger of Allah when one of his Companions arrived and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I was stung last night and could not sleep until morning.’ He asked, ‘What stung you?’ He replied, ‘A scorpion.’ The Prophet said, ‘Had you said at nightfall, “I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created,” it would not have harmed you, if Allah wills.’” Ahmad 6/377, al-Darimi 2/289, Muslim (no. 2708) and Ibn al-Sani, p. 198, transmit—on the authority of Saʿd b. Abi Waqqas—that Khawla bt. Hakim al-Sulamiyya said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah declare, ‘Whoever alights at a place and says, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created,’ nothing will harm him until he departs from that place.’” Thus Khawla’s report is restricted to stopping at a campsite, whereas Abu Hurayra’s version is general. Al-Nasaʾi, in al-Kubra, likewise reports from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever, on entering the evening, repeats three times, ‘Aʿudhu bi-kalimat Allah al-tammāt kullihā min sharri mā khalaq (I seek refuge in all the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created),’ the sting (hummat) of that night will not harm him.” Ibn Hibban (no. 2360) and al-Hakim 4/416 declared it sound, and al-Dhahabi concurred. Al-hummat means poison, and by extension refers to the sting of a scorpion; the versions of Ibn Hibban and al-Mustadrak explicitly mention a snake (hayya).