He says, “In what state did you leave My servants?”
They reply, “We left them while they were praying, and we reached them while they were praying.”
This is al-Bukhārī’s wording in the Book of the Beginning of Creation, in exactly this context; Muslim does not cite it in this form through this chain.
The two Imams also include the ḥadith in their Ṣaḥīḥs through the transmission of Mālik from Abū al-Zinād.
Al-Bazzār reports: Ziyād ibn Ayyūb narrated to us; Mubashshir ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ḥalabī narrated to us; Tamām ibn Najīḥ narrated to us, from al-Ḥasan—meaning al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī—from Anas who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “No two guardian angels present to Allah what they have recorded in a single day, and Allah sees at the top and bottom of the scroll the servant’s plea for forgiveness, without saying: ‘I have forgiven My servant whatever lies between the two ends of the scroll.’”
Al-Bazzār then remarked: “Only Tamām ibn Najīḥ relates this report, and he is considered acceptable in ḥadīth.”
Ibn Maʿīn deemed him trustworthy, whereas al-Bukhārī, Abū Ḥātim, Abū Zurʿah, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn ʿAdī judged him weak, and Ibn Ḥibbān accused him of fabrication. Imām Aḥmad said, “I do not know his real status.”
The point is that every human being is assigned two guardian angels: one in front of him and one behind him, who protect him by Allah’s command. He also has two recording angels, one on his right and one on his left, and the angel on the right is in charge of the one on the left, as we have mentioned in connection with the verse, “On the right and on the left, sitting in wait; not a word does he utter but that with him is an observer ready [to record]” (Qāf 50:17–18).
As for the ḥadith recorded by Imām Aḥmad: Al-Aswad ibn ʿĀmir related to us; Sufyān related to us; Manṣūr related to us, from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Ibn Masʿūd—who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “There is none of you but that a companion from the jinn and a companion from the angels has been appointed over him.” They asked, “Even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Even me, but Allah has helped me against him, so he only urges me to good.”