“Choose whichever of the two you wish.” He said, “I choose the right hand of my Lord; both hands of my Lord are blessed right hands ...”

It is cited in al-Zilāl (91/206).

It also has a supporting report from Abdullah ibn Salam, attributed to the Companion himself. Al-Ajurri narrated it (p. 322) with a good chain.

There are other hadiths concerning the two handfuls, which I documented in the first volume under nos. (46–50). None of them mentions the left [hand], except one version of Ibn Umar’s hadith concerning the folding up of the heavens and the earth. It is cited in Sahih al-Jamiʿ, as narrated by Muslim and Abu Dawud from him. Umar ibn Hamzah alone reported this wording from Salim, from him.

Al-Bayhaqi said in al-Asmaʾ (p. 324):

“Nafiʿ and Ubaydullah ibn Miqsam narrated this hadith from Ibn Umar, without mentioning ‘the left.’ Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, and others also narrated it from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and none of them mentioned the left. The mention of the left has also been related in two other reports, unrelated to this account, but they are exceedingly weak: Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr alone narrated one of them, and Yazid al-Raqashi the other; both are abandoned. How can this be sound when it is authentically reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he called both His hands right?”

I say: What al-Bayhaqi meant by his statement concerning the mention of “the left” in the indicated hadith of Ibn Umar is that it is anomalous, since it contradicts the trustworthy narrators who made no such mention—whether in Ibn Umar’s hadith or in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah and others. Technically, however, this ruling of anomaly would be valid only if Umar ibn Hamzah were considered trustworthy by the scholars. In fact, he is weak, as al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar and others explicitly stated. Imam Ahmad described him by saying:

“His hadiths are rejected.”