Hadeeth about a Bedouin asking the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to teach him good
1-5-2015 | IslamWeb
Question:
Is the following hadith authentic and can I quote it? Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated, A Bedouin man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said “O Messenger of Allah, teach me good”So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took him by the hand, and said, “Say ‘SubhanAllah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illa Allah, wa Allahu akbar’.” (Glory be to Allah, and all praise be to Allah, and there is no (true) deity but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest)So the Bedouin counted them on his fingers and then left, either to contemplate over the words or to memorize them, then he returned. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him, he smiled. The Bedouin, who was a simple man, asked “SubhanAllah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha ila allah, wa Allahu Akbar- these are all for Allah, so what is for me?”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), still smiling, said,"O bedouin, when you say, 'Subhanallah', Allah says, 'You have spoken the truth', when you say, 'Alhamdulillah', Allah says, 'You have spoken the truth', when you say, 'La ilaha illa Allah', Allah says, 'You have spoken the truth', when you say, 'Allahu Akbar', Allah says, 'You have spoken the truth'.If you say ‘O Allah forgive me’, He says ‘I have done so’. If you say ‘O Allah have mercy on me, He says ‘I have done so’. If you say ‘O Allah, give me rizq (provision), He says ‘I have done so’.”(Reported by ibn Abi Ad-Dunya and Al-Bayhaqi, and has been classed as Saheeh by Al-Albani)
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Al-Bayhaqi 
presented this Hadeeth in his book Shuʻab Al-Eemaan, and Al-Albaani declared it to be Saheeh (sound) in his books As-Silsilah As-Saheehah and Saheeh At-Targheeb wa At-Tarheeb. We could not find any other scholars who have commented on the authenticity of this Hadeeth and its chain of narration.
Al-Maqdisi also presented it in his book Al-Mustakhraj min Al-Ahaadeeth Al-Mukhtaarah mimma lam Yukhrijahu Al-Bukhari wa Muslim fi Saheehayhima, also known as Al-Ahaadeeth Al-Mukhtaarah. This may also support the authenticity of the Hadeeth.
In any case, Al-Albaani is one of the senior Hadeeth scholars of our time, so it is correct to follow his assessment of the Hadeeth and there is no blame in citing this Hadeeth as evidence based on Al-Albaani's assessment.
Allaah Knows best.