Abd al-Haqq declares the report authentic in his Ahkam (2/56), as do al-Nawawi in al-Majmu (3/479) and Ibn Hajar in Bulugh al-Maram; the last two, however, cite it with the additional words in both taslims. In the copy of the Sunan that we possess, the addition appears only in the first taslim, as noted above. I am therefore unsure whether this is due to variant manuscripts of Sunan Abi Dawud or a mistake made by those two scholars when quoting from it (*). Allah knows best. For this reason I have limited the addition to the first taslim, following what is found in our copy; this view is further supported by the previously mentioned narration of al-Tayalisi from Ibn Masud, which does not record the phrase in the second taslim. If sound evidence later confirms it for the left side, we will accept it and include it in the book; otherwise we will adhere to what is reliably transmitted (**). This is bolstered by the well-established principle—recognised by those who study the Prophet’s conduct in all matters—that he accorded the right hand and the right side greater honour and attention. A close illustration is his practice of saying on the right: “as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah,” while on the left he would limit himself to: “as-salamu alaykum,” as will be cited later in the main text. Al-Sindi comments: “Its implication is that he adds on the right the words ‘wa rahmatullah,’ honouring the people of the right with an extra blessing, and confines himself on the left to ‘as-salamu alaykum.’ The phrase ‘wa rahmatullah’ has, however, also been transmitted on the left, and the practice follows that; perhaps he sometimes omitted it.” (*) In fact, this is a case of manuscript variation, as the Shaykh notes in Sahih Sunan Abi Dawud (4/155): “Our copy and others correspond to al-Mundhiri’s Mukhtasar al-Sunan … and it is probably the stronger version.” (**) The Shaykh later inclined, in Sahih Sunan Abi Dawud (4/152), to consider the addition anomalous; see his remarks there.