Sunan Abi Dawud 4629
سنن أبي داود#4629Sahihحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ كَثِيرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، حَدَّثَنَا جَامِعُ بْنُ أَبِي رَاشِدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو يَعْلَى، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ ابْنِ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ، قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي أَىُّ النَّاسِ خَيْرٌ بَعْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ . قَالَ قُلْتُ ثُمَّ مَنْ قَالَ ثُمَّ عُمَرُ . قَالَ ثُمَّ خَشِيتُ أَنْ أَقُولَ ثُمَّ مَنْ فَيَقُولَ عُثْمَانُ فَقُلْتُ ثُمَّ أَنْتَ يَا أَبَةِ قَالَ مَا أَنَا إِلاَّ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ .
Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyyah said:I said to my father: Which of the people after the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is best? He replied: Abu Bakr. I then asked: Who comes next? He said: ‘Umar. I was then afraid of asking him who came next, and he might mention ‘Uthman, so I said: You came next, O my father? He said: I am only a man among the Muslims
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: 42:34