Sunan Abi Dawud 4628
سنن أبي داود#4628Sahihحَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ صَالِحٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَنْبَسَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا يُونُسُ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، قَالَ قَالَ سَالِمُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ ابْنَ عُمَرَ قَالَ كُنَّا نَقُولُ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم حَىٌّ أَفْضَلُ أُمَّةِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بَعْدَهُ أَبُو بَكْرٍ ثُمَّ عُمَرُ ثُمَّ عُثْمَانُ رضى الله عنهم أَجْمَعِينَ .
Ibn ‘Umar said:When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was alive, we used to say: The most excellent member of the community of the Prophet (ﷺ) after himself is Abu Bakr, then ‘Umar, then 'Uthman
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave, each scholar counted once — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. When they judged only its chain of narrators (“Isnaad”), the label says “Sound chain”. Each scholar's own wording:
Our source also lists this ruling under Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid, the editor of the printed edition it was taken from. It is al-Albani's ruling printed again, so it is counted once.
In-book reference: 42:33