The chain is sound, yet the report is mursal (missing the Companion). Abu Dawud added: “This version is more reliable than the report of al-Zuhri from Anas, or al-Zuhri from Salim from his father on the same matter.” I note that al-Tirmidhi recorded the first route (2/153, Bulaq ed.) through Ayyub b. Suwayd al-Ramli, from Yunus b. Yazid, from al-Zuhri, from Anas. Al-Tirmidhi commented: “This hadith is gharib; we do not know it from al-Zuhri on the authority of Anas except through this narration of Ayyub.” Some of al-Zuhri’s students also transmitted the report stating that the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, and Umar used to recite: maaliki yawmi d-din. ʿAbd al-Razzaq likewise narrated—from Maʿmar, from al-Zuhri, from Saʿid b. al-Musayyab—that the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, and Umar recited: maaliki yawmi d-din. In sum, the correct evaluation is that the report is mursal, and Ayyub b. Suwayd—the only transmitter who connected the chain—was weak in memory. Nevertheless, the hadith is strengthened by the alternative routes mentioned earlier by Ibn Kathir and by the fact that it was adopted by the seven canonical Qurʾan readers.