This account is cited without a chain of transmission by contemporary practitioners. The earliest book in which I have found it is al-Manāwī’s Fayd al-Qadīr, where he writes:

“A useful note: Ibn Asākir related that one of Saīd al-Sājī’s miraculous gifts was as follows. He was told, ‘Protect your she-camel from so-and-so, who casts the evil eye.’ He replied, ‘He has no means of harming her.’ The man then struck her with the evil eye, and she fell to the ground convulsing. Al-Sājī was informed, so he went and stood before him, saying, ‘In the name of Allah. A barrier that bars and a kindling flame! I have turned the eye of the one who cast it back upon him, upon the person dearest to him, and upon his liver and his two kidneys—washīq—and may it cling to his wealth. “Look again: do you see any flaws?” (al-Mulk, 67:3)—to the end of the verse.’ The evil-eye caster’s eyeballs came out, while the she-camel remained unharmed. (Ad; Hl) It was transmitted in a hadith of Shuayb ibn Ayyūb, from Muāwiyah ibn Hishām, from al-Thawrī, from Ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir. He said, ‘It is singular among the hadiths of al-Thawrī; Muāwiyah alone transmitted it.’ End quote. Regarding Abū Dharr, al-Sakhāwī said, ‘Shuayb ibn Ayyūb alone transmitted it from Muāwiyah, from Hishām.’ End quote.

This version of the account contains details absent from the preceding one; such stories gain and lose details. Al-Manāwī attributed it—using his symbols (Ad, Hl)—to Ibn Adī and Abū Nuaym in al-Hilyah, through the chain just mentioned. Ibn Hibbān included Shuayb ibn Ayyūb in al-Thiqāt and said, “He served as judge of Wāsit. He made mistakes and practised tadlīs; whenever he narrated, his reports contained objectionable material concealed through tadlīs.” His teacher Muāwiyah hadiths were transmitted by Muslim. Ibn Hibbān also included him in al-Thiqāt and said, “He sometimes erred.” Al-Hāfiz stated in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (10/218): “Ibn Shāhīn said in *al-Thiqāt: Uthmān ibn Abī Shaybah said, ‘Muāwiyah ibn Hishām is a truthful man, but he is not an authoritative proof.’ Al-Sājī said, ‘He is truthful but makes mistakes.’ Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, ‘He makes many errors.’” End quote.

It is thus evident that the story is not authentic. Moreover, it contains numerous corrupt elements: polytheism, superstition, charlatanry, and contempt for people’s intelligence. Here are some of the problems I have identified in it:

The words cited are neither a supplication nor an appeal for refuge through the names and attributes of Allah. They are not an incantation in any sense, but merely contrived rhymed prose resembling the rhymed utterances of soothsayers. Nor do they have any apparent meaning by which they might be assessed. What does “a barrier that bars” mean, and who is this barrier? What is meant by “a dry stone”? What do a dry stone and a kindling flame have to do with an incantation