Abu Bakr ibn Abi Aws was named ‘Abd al-Hamid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Asbahi, and he too was a narrator cited by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

That said, when I was editing al-Kalim al-Tayyib by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—in Madinah, I found that he had attributed this hadith of Suhayb to al-Nasa’i and others. Since I did not find it in the printed edition of al-Sunan al-Sughra, I consulted Ibn ‘Allan’s Takhrij al-Adhkar in order to ascertain the status of its chain of transmission. It is well known that most of his hadith documentations are simply transmitted from al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani’s Nata’ij al-Afkar fi Takhrij al-Adhkar. There I found that he had transmitted from him a lengthy discussion documenting the hadith, which he attributed to al-Nasa’i and others. I therefore appended its summary to al-Kalim al-Tayyib: namely, that the hadith’s common pivotal narrator in their chains was Abu Marwan, who is unknown. I also noted my surprise at al-Hafiz’s statement concerning it: “A good hadith,” for this does not accord with Abu Marwan’s unknown status. Ibn Qani‘ also narrated it through his route in Suhayb’s biographical entry in al-Mu‘jam.

But it has now become clear that he fell short both in grading it merely good and in claiming that its pivotal narrator was Abu Marwan. For, as you have seen, he was corroborated by Malik ibn Abi ‘Amir al-Asbahi, who was trustworthy, through an authentic chain from him. He also failed to mention the hadith under discussion as a supporting report for it. So praise be to Allah, who has guided us to this; we would not have been guided had Allah not guided us. And praise be to Allah, by whose favor righteous deeds are brought to completion.

I then found a supporting report for it from one of the Prophet’s instructions—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—narrated by Ayyub ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad: Sa‘id narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlan narrated to us, from Nafi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar, from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that he would say: “When you depart from your lands for lands that you intend to reach, then, when you come within sight of the town or village, say: ‘O Allah, Lord of the seven heavens and all that they overshadow, and Lord of the seven earths and all that they bear.’” He then cited the rest of the hadith.