Al-Bukhari also reported it in similar wording.
1907 — “Every person’s fate is fastened to his neck.”
Ahmad reported it (3/342, 349, and 360) through several routes from Ibn Lahi‘ah, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say it. Ibn Lahi‘ah said: “That is, superstitious augury.”
I say: This chain of transmission is weak because of Ibn Lahi‘ah’s poor retention and Abu al-Zubayr’s ambiguous transmission. However, he was corroborated. Ibn Jarir therefore reported it in his Exegesis (15/39), through Qatadah, from Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah, with a chain going back to the Prophet, with the wording: “There is no contagion and no superstitious omen; and We have fastened every person’s fate to his neck.”
I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of al-Bukhari and Muslim, but Qatadah did not hear from Jabir; his narration from him was from a written collection. Ahmad said: “Jabir’s written collection was read to him only once, and he memorized it.” Perhaps one of the two chains is strengthened by the other. In any case, the hadith is authentic, for it is drawn from the saying of Allah Most High in Surat al-Isra’: “We have fastened every person’s fate to his neck, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring forth for him a record which he will find spread open.”
Ibn Jarir said: “The Exalted says: We have fastened to every person what it has been decreed that he will do, and what he will inevitably come to, whether of wretchedness or happiness; it is attached to his neck and never leaves him. His saying, ‘We have fastened his fate,’ is a simile drawn from the Arabs’ taking good or bad omens from the birds that crossed their paths in different directions. Thus He—exalted be His praise—informed them that every one of them has had his fate fastened to his neck by his Lord: whether it be a misfortune fastened upon him, arising from (1) wretchedness that will lead him into a blazing Fire, or good fortune that will lead him into the Gardens of Eden.”