It was narrated by Abu Nuʿaym in Akhbār Aṣbahān (2/277). I say: This chain is good, if this Saʿīd is Ibn Abī Ayyūb al-Miṣrī, for he was trustworthy and exceptionally precise, and among the narrators cited by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim. But if he is Ibn Maslamah al-Jazarī, then he is weak, as stated in al-Taqrīb. Al-Mizzī mentioned both of them in Tahdhīb among the narrators from Ibn ʿAjlān, and it is more likely that he is al-Jazarī. And Allah knows best.

This was then confirmed to me by two considerations. First, al-Mizzī mentioned him among the teachers of Ayyūb ibn Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, but did not mention Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb al-Miṣrī. Second, when al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar mentioned it in Takhrīj al-Adhkār as a corroborating report for another hadith, with its chain going back to Ibn ʿUmar—as cited by Ibn ʿAllān (5/158–159)—he said: “There is weakness in its chain.” Had this Saʿīd been the Egyptian, he would not have declared its chain weak. And Allah knows best.

What I considered more likely was further confirmed after al-Ṭabarānī’s book al-Duʿāʾ was published. I found that he had narrated it there (2/1288/885) through another route, saying: “Saʿīd ibn Maslamah narrated to us ...”

2760 — “The counter-charm is an act of Satan.”

Aḥmad narrated it in al-Musnad (3/294), and from him Abū Dāwūd in al-Sunan (3868), and through his route al-Bayhaqī (9/351): ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; ʿUqayl ibn Maʿqil narrated to us. He said: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih narrating from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: