Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (Proofs of Prophethood) (pp. 400–401), as did al-Bayhaqī, through ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī: “My father narrated to us from Yūnus and ʿAnbasah, from him.” I say: This chain is authentic, were it not for al-Ḥasan’s use of an ambiguous “from” formula, for he was al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and practised concealment in transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy narrators of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, apart from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, whom Ibn Ḥibbān declared trustworthy (8/453). The basis of this hadith is found in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim with different wording, and it is cited in Ṣifat al-Ṣalāh (The Description of the Prayer).

The fourth route: ʿUyaynah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated it: My father related to me from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, who said: “When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed me over al-Ṭāʾif, something began to interfere with me in my prayer, until I no longer knew what I was praying. When I saw this, I travelled to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said, ‘Ibn al-ʿĀṣ?’ I said, ‘Yes, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘What has brought you here?’ I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, something has been interfering with me in my prayer, until I no longer know what I am praying.’ He said, ‘That is Satan. Come near.’ So I approached him and sat upon the fronts of my feet. He struck my chest with his hand and spat lightly into my mouth, saying, ‘Get out, enemy of Allah!’”