(9) باب فِي الْخُلَفَاءِ
Rabah ibn al-Harith said:
I was sitting with someone in the mosque of Kufah while the people of Kufah were with him. Then Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl came and he welcomed him, greeted him, and seated him near his foot on the throne. Then a man of the inhabitants of Kufah, called Qays ibn Alqamah, came. He received him and began to abuse him. Sa'id asked: Whom is this man abusing? He replied: He is abusing Ali. He said: Don't I see that the companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) are being abused, but you neither stop it nor do anything about it? I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say--and I need not say for him anything which he did not say, and then he would ask me tomorrow when I see him --AbuBakr will go to Paradise and Umar will go to Paradise. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect (as in No. 4632). He then said: The company of one of their man whose face has been covered with dust by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is better than the actions of one of you for a whole life time even if he is granted the life-span of Noah.
Reference: Sunan Abi Dawud 4650
In-book reference: Book 42, Hadith 55
English translation: Book 41, Hadith 4633