How, then, could it be otherwise when they are supported by the reports of Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah and Shayban ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, as mentioned above? Indeed, Shubah agreed with them on this in a narration from him which al-Tirmidhi recorded and declared authentic. Yet he differed anomalously from all of them in another wording, saying “three” in place of “ten.” Its explanation is in the other series (1336).

Then I found that Shubah narrated this wording in another manner, using the phrase, “from Surah al-Kahf.” He mentioned neither “the beginning” nor “the end,” apparently because he was uncertain between the two. Al-Khatib recorded it from him in this manner in his History (1/290).

Note: Another hadith clarifies what is meant by the memorization and protection mentioned in this hadith. The Prophet ﷺ said in the hadith concerning the Dajjal: “Whoever among you encounters him should recite over him the opening verses of Surah al-Kahf, for they will be your protection against his tribulation.” Abu Dawud recorded it (4321) with an authentic chain, and its basis is found in Muslim (8/197), though without the words, “for they will be ...”

583 — “Our Lord will uncover His Shin, and every believing man and believing woman will prostrate to Him. There will remain those who used to prostrate in this world for show and reputation; they will seek to prostrate, but their backs will become a single rigid plate.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it (8/538—Fath): Adam narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us, from Khalid ibn Yazid, from Saʿid ibn Abi Hilal, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar, from Abu Saʿid al-Khudri—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say this.

I say: This is how al-Bukhari cited it in the section on exegesis. It is an excerpt from Abu Saʿid’s lengthy hadith concerning the vision of Allah in the Hereafter, which he cited in full in al-Tawhid (13/362–364): Yahya ibn Bukayr narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us with the same chain, with the wording: