(53) باب مَنْ أَحَقُّ بِالإِمَامَةِ
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
When there are three persons, one of them should lead them. The one among them most worthy to act as Imam is one who is best versed in the Qur'an.
Reference: Sahih Muslim 672 a
In-book reference: Book 5, Hadith 365
USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Book 4, Hadith 1417