He told how Abu Bakr said he had asked God’s messenger to command him something to say in the morning and the evening, and he had told him to say, “O God, who knowest the unseen and the seen, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Lord and Possessor of everything, I testify that there is no god but Thee; I seek refuge in Thee from the evil within myself, from the evil of the devil and his [incitement to] attributing partners [to God].”* He instructed him to say it morning and evening, and when he went to bed. *The Arabic word may be read either as shirk (attributing a partner to God), or as sharah (snare). The former is preferred. Cf. Mirqat, ili, 99. Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Darimi transmitted it.