and two riders (1) are two devils, while three form a travelling party (2).
It is reported that, when setting out on a journey, he would say: “O Allah, to You I turn, and in You I seek refuge. O Allah, suffice me against what concerns me and what I am not concerned about (3). O Allah, provide me with piety, forgive my sin, and direct me towards good wherever I turn” (4).
When his mount was brought to him to ride, he would say, “In the name of Allah,” as he placed his foot in the stirrup. Once seated on its back, he would say: “Praise be to Allah, who has subjected this to us, for we could not have controlled it ourselves. Surely, to our Lord we shall return.” Then he would say: “Praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah.” Then: “Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.” Then: “Glory be to You! I have wronged myself, so forgive me, for none forgives sins except You” (5).
(1) Sād: “wa-l-rākibayn (and the two riders).”
(2) Reported by Mālik (2801), Ahmad (6748, 7007), Abū Dāwūd (2607), al-Tirmidhī (1674), al-Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā (8798), and al-Bayhaqī (5/257), from ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from his grandfather. The chain up to ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb is authentic. The hadith was graded authentic by al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Khuzaymah (2570), and al-Hākim (2/102), and hasan (good) by al-Hāfiz in al-Fath (6/53) and al-Albānī in Sahīh Abī Dāwūd—al-Umm (7/361).
(3) Jīm: “bihi (about it).”
(4) Reported by Abū Ya‘lā (2770), al-Tabarī in Tahdhīb al-Āthār (166, Musnad ‘Alī), al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (805), Ibn al-Sunnī in ‘Amal al-Yawm wa-l-Laylah (p. 444), and al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan (5/250) and al-Da‘awāt al-Kabīr (2/35). Its chain includes ‘Umar ibn Musāwir, who is munkar al-hadīth (a narrator of objectionable reports). See al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (6/199), Mīzān al-I‘tidāl (3/223), and Lisān al-Mīzān (6/144).
(5) Reported by Ahmad (753), Abū Dāwūd (2602), al-Tirmidhī (3446), al-Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā (8748, 8749, 10263), and Ibn Hibbān (2697, 2698), through Abū Ishāq, from ‘Alī ibn Rabī‘ah, from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib. The chain contains Abū Ishāq’s ‘an‘anah (transmission using “from,” without explicitly stating that he heard the report). He omitted two narrators between himself and ‘Alī ibn Rabī‘ah, according to Ibn Abī Hātim in ‘Ilal al-Hadīth (799, 800) and al-Jarh wa-l-Ta‘dīl (p. 168, introduction), al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh al-Awsat (3/190), and al-Dāraqutnī in al-‘Ilal (430). Al-Dāraqutnī favored the mursal (disconnected) version. The hadith has several transmission routes, on whose combined strength the editors of al-Musnad graded it hasan (good).