We were caught in a light drizzle and darkness, so we waited for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to lead us in prayer. He came out, took me by the hand, and said, "Say."I remained silent.He said again, "Say."I asked, "What shall I say?"He replied, "Say Qul huwa Allahu Ahad and the two surahs of refuge three times when you enter the evening and when you enter the morning. They will suffice you twice each day."
أصابنا طش وظلمة، فانتظرنا رسول الله ﷺ ليصلي لنا، فخرج، فأخذ بيدي فقال: قل. فسكت. قال: قل. قلت: ما أقول؟ قال: قل هو الله أحد، والمعوذتين حين تمسي، وحين تصبح ثلاثا، تكفيك كل يوم مرتين.
Abu Dawud (5082), Tirmidhi (3575), Nasai (5428), and Ahmad (22664) all narrated it from the hadith of Ibn Abu Dhib, from Usayd bin Abu Usayd, from Muaz bin Abdullah bin Khubayb, from his father, who mentioned it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith, gharib from this route." I say, its chain is hasan because of Usayd bin Abu Usayd and his teacher Muaz bin Abdullah, for these two are the ones who make the hadith hasan.However, Nasai (5430) narrated it through another route, from Abdullah bin Sulayman, from Muaz bin Abdullah bin Khubayb, from his father, from Uqba bin Amir Juhani, who said, "While I was leading the mount of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a military expedition, he said, 'Uqba, recite.' I listened, then he said, 'Uqba, recite.' I listened, then he said it a third time, so I said, 'What should I recite?' He said, '"Say, He is Allah, the One"' [Ikhlas 112:1]. He recited the surah until he completed it. Then he recited "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak" [Falaq 113:1], and I recited it with him until he completed it. Then he recited "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind" [Nas 114:1], and I recited it with him until he completed it. Then he said, 'No one seeks refuge with anything like these two.'"The hadith of Uqba bin Amir has other chains of transmission which Nasai compiled, mentioning the differences in wording. What appears to be the case is that the incident happened to both of them at two different times. First it happened to Uqba bin Amir, and it was narrated from him by Abdullah bin Khubayb and others, as found in Nasai. Then it happened to Abdullah bin Khubayb himself at another time. So there is no confusion or contradiction in it.As for Ibn Hajar's statement in Nataij Afkar (2/329), "The hadith is known through Uqba bin Amir," this does not negate its having also happened to Abdullah bin Khubayb, and he indicated as much in Isabah in the biographical entry on Abdullah bin Khubayb.