(52) باب فَضْلِ الصَّحَابَةِ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ
'A'isha reported that a person asked Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) as to who amongst the people were the best. He said:
Of the generation to which I belong, then of the second generation (generation adjacent to my generation), then of the third generation (generation adjacent to the second generation).
Reference: Sahih Muslim 2536
In-book reference: Book 44, Hadith 307
USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Book 31, Hadith 6159