Uqbah reported, "While I was leading the mount of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ through one of those mountain passes, he said to me, 'Uqbah, will you not ride?'"Uqbah continued, "I considered it too great an honor to ride the Messenger of Allah's ﷺ mount. Then he said again, 'Uqbah, will you not ride?' I feared that refusing would be an act of disobedience, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dismounted and I rode for a short while, then he mounted again."Then he said, "Uqbah, shall I not teach you two surahs that are among the best surahs people recite?"I replied, "Yes, Messenger of Allah."So he taught me to recite "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak" [Falaq 113:1] and "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind" [Nas 114:1].Then the prayer was called, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stepped forward and recited them in the prayer. Afterwards he passed by me and said, "What did you think, Uqbah? Recite them whenever you lie down to sleep and whenever you rise."
بينا أنا أقود برسول الله ﷺ في نقب من تلك النقاب، إذ قال لي: يا عقب، ألا تركب؟ قال: فأجللت رسول الله ﷺ أن أركب مركبه، ثم قال: يا عقب، ألا تركب؟ قال: فأشفقت أن تكون معصية، قال: فنزل رسول الله ﷺ وركبت هنيئة، ثم ركب، ثم قال: يا عقب، ألا أعلمك سورتين من خير سورتين قرأ بهما الناس؟ قال: قلت: بلى يا رسول الله. قال: فأقرأني: {قل أعوذ برب الفلق}، {وقل أعوذ برب الناس}، ثم أقيمت الصلاة، فتقدم رسول الله ﷺ فقرأ بهما، ثم مر بي، قال: كيف رأيت يا عقب؟ اقرأ بهما كلما نمت، وكلما قمت.
Nasai (5427) and Ahmad (17296) narrated it, and Ibn Khuzayma (534) graded it sahih, all of them through the route of Walid bin Muslim, who said, Ibn Jabir narrated to us, from Qasim Abu Abdul-Rahman, from Uqba bin Amir, and he related it. The wording given is Ahmad's, and its chain of transmission is sahih.Ibn Jabir is Abdul-Rahman bin Yazid bin Jabir Al-Azdi, Abu Utba Al-Shami, a reliable narrator. Ibn Main and Ibn Saad and others affirmed his reliability.