Musnad Ahmad — Hadith #45368

Abdullah bin Aoun narrated to us, Mubarak bin Saeed, Sufyan’s brother, narrated to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Habib bin Abi Thabit, on the authority of Abd Khair. Al-Hamdani, he said, I heard Ali, may God be pleased with him, saying on the pulpit: Shall I not inform you of the best of this nation after its Prophet? He said, so he mentioned Abu Bakr, then he said, “Shall I not tell you about the second?” He mentioned Omar, may God be pleased with him. Then he said, “If I wished, I could tell you about the third.” He said and remained silent. We saw that he meant himself, so I said, “Did you hear him say this?” He said, “Yes, by the Lord of the Kaaba.” Otherwise, they would both remain silent.