—“The hadith was passed over in silence by Abu Dawud and al-Mundhiri, and we have already mentioned that a number of hadith authorities state that whatever Abu Dawud is silent about is suitable for legal proof. There is no flaw in its chain; its transmitters are those found in the Sahih collections, and the unknown identity of the Companion does not harm the report in the view of the majority—and that is the sound position.” There is some leniency in this claim, for this Muadh was not narrated by either of the two Sahihs; Bukhari mentions him only in al-Adab al-Mufrad. Moreover, the rule that every narration on which Abu Dawud remains silent is fit for citation is not consistent; among them are reports that are inadmissible as proof, and we have already encountered many examples of that—so be alert. (1) The report is from the Companion Uqbah ibn Amir. It reaches us through several routes: The first: Muawiyah ibn Salih → al-Ala ibn al-Harith → al-Qasim, the client of Muawiyah → Uqbah. He said: “I was leading the camel of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey when he said to me: ‘Uqbah! Shall I not teach you the two best surahs that have ever been recited?’ He then taught me: Qul aʿudhu bi-rabbi l-falaq (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak) and Qul aʿudhu bi-rabbi n-nas (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind). Uqbah continued: I had never been so delighted with anything as I was with them. When the time for the dawn prayer arrived, the Prophet ﷺ led the people in fajr reciting those two surahs. When he had finished, he turned to me and said, ‘Uqbah! What do you think of them?’” It is related by Abu Dawud (1/230), al-Nasaʾi (2/313), Ibn Khuzaymah (1/69/2 = 1/268, no. 535), al-Hakim (1/240), al-Bayhaqi (2/394), and Ahmad (4/149–150, 153) through various chains from Muawiyah.