None brings good except Allah. Whatever Allah wills shall be. None wards off evil except Allah. Whatever Allah wills shall be. Every blessing is from Allah. Whatever Allah wills shall be. There is no might and no power except with Allah.

He said:

Ibn ʿAbbās remarked, “Whoever recites these words three times at dawn and three times at dusk, Allah will protect him from drowning, burning, and theft.”

He added—and, as I think, he also said—“and from Satan, the ruler, the snake, and the scorpion.”(1)

Al-Dāraqutnī said in al-Afrād: “This is a solitary report (gharīb) from the narrations of Ibn Jurayj; no one transmitted it from him except this shaykh”—meaning Ḥasan ibn Razīn. Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-ʿAbdī also related from him, yet the ḥadīth master Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī (2) said of him, “He is unknown.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Jaʿfar al-ʿUqaylī (3) likewise stated, “He is unidentified and his ḥadīth is not preserved.” Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Munādī (4) observed, “The report is weak because of Ḥasan ibn Razīn.”

Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted a similar narration (5) through ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Jahḍamī—who is a liar—from Ḍamrah ibn Ḥabīb al-Maqdisī, from his father, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ziyād al-Qushayrī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan, from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, raised to the Prophet ﷺ, who said:

“Each Day of ʿArafah at ʿArafāt, Gabriel, Michael, Isrāfīl, and al-Khiḍr gather…” He then related a lengthy fabricated ḥadīth which we have deliberately omitted—praise be to Allah.

Ibn ʿAsākir also reported, via Hishām ibn Khālid, from al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā al-Khushanī, from Ibn Abī Rawwād, who said:

“Elijah and al-Khiḍr fast the month of Ramadan in Jerusalem, perform the pilgrimage every year, and drink a single draught of Zamzam water that suffices them until the same time the following year.”(6)

He further related that al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, the builder of the Great Mosque of Damascus, wished to spend a night in worship there. He ordered the caretakers (7) to clear the mosque for him, and they did so. Later that night he entered through the Gate of the Clocks and saw a man standing in prayer between him and the Green Gate. He said to the caretakers, “Did I not command you to leave it empty?” They replied, “Commander of the Faithful, this is al-Khiḍr; he comes here every night to pray.”

Ibn ʿAsākir likewise said: “Abū al-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad informed us; Abū Bakr ibn al-Ṭabarī informed us…”