I was in the presence of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb when he was asked about this verse, and he related the ḥadīth.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dāraquṭnī said (1): ʿUmar ibn Juʿthum was corroborated by Abū Furwah Yazīd ibn Sinān al-Rihāwī, reporting from Zayd ibn Abī Unaysah, and their wording is nearer to accuracy than that of Mālik (2).

All of these reports indicate that Allah, exalted be He, extracted Adam’s progeny from his loins in the form of tiny particles, divided them into two groups—the people of the right hand and the people of the left—and declared: ‘These are for Paradise, and I do not mind; and those are for the Fire, and I do not mind.’

As for making them bear witness against themselves and compelling them to articulate the acknowledgement of His oneness, this is not found in the sound aḥādīth. Interpreting the verse in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf along those lines therefore warrants scrutiny, as we have explained there (3). In that discussion we cited all the aḥādīth and reports in full, with their chains and exact wordings; whoever wishes to examine the matter closely should consult it. Allah knows best.

With regard to the ḥadīth narrated by Aḥmad (4): ‘Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad told us; Jarīr—meaning Ibn Ḥāzim—told us, from Kulthūm ibn Jabr, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:

“Indeed Allah took the covenant from Adam’s back in the valley of Nuʿmān on the Day of ʿArafah. He brought forth from his backbone every offspring He would ever create, scattered them before Him, then addressed them face to face and said, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They replied, ‘Yes indeed,’ lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were heedless of this,’ or lest you should say … until His words, ‘the falsifiers’ (al-Aʿrāf 7:172–173).”

—this ḥadīth has a strong and reliable chain that meets Muslim’s criterion.

It was likewise transmitted by al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, and al-Ḥākim in his al-Mustadrak (5) through Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī. Al-Ḥākim said: ‘Its isnād is sound, though neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim recorded it.’ However, there is a difference regarding Kulthūm ibn Jabr: the report is related from him both as a marfūʿ narration and as one halted at the Companion. The same variation is found in the transmission of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr from Ibn ʿAbbās—sometimes marfūʿ, sometimes mawqūf (6). It was also narrated by al-ʿAwfī, al-Wālibī, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and Abū Jamrah from Ibn ʿAbbās as his own statement, and that version is more numerous and better established. Allah knows best. The same applies to the report from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (7); it too appears both marfūʿ and mawqūf, and the mawqūf version is the sounder (8).