It was recorded by Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah through the chain of transmission that passes by way of Sadaqah.
Shu‘bah relates from al-Hurr: I heard a man called ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Akhnas say, “Al-Mughirah ibn Shu‘bah once delivered a sermon in which he spoke ill of ‘Ali. Sa‘id ibn Zayd thereupon rose and said, ‘What do you hope to gain by this? I bear witness before Allah that I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “Ten are in Paradise: the Messenger of Allah is in Paradise, Abu Bakr is in Paradise …”’—and he mentioned the rest of the report. (1)
Al-Hurr is Ibn al-Sayyah.
‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Ziyad, from al-Hasan ibn ‘Ubayd Allah, said: al-Hurr narrated the same purport to us.
Ibn Abi Fudayk reported to us: Musa ibn Ya‘qub narrated from ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id ibn Suraij (2) that ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Humayd told him, from his father Humayd ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, who said: Sa‘id ibn Zayd told me, in the presence of a group, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Ten are in Paradise: Abu Bakr is in Paradise …,” and among those he named was Abu ‘Ubaydah. (3)
(1) All the transmitters are trustworthy except for Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Akhnas, whom only Ibn Hibban declared reliable. The report appears in the Musnad 1/188, and Abu Dawud also records it (no. 4649) in al-Sunna, “Chapter on the Caliphs.” Compare hadith (4) on the following page and the report cited just before it.
(2) The author gives the narrator a brief entry in al-Mizan 3/200 and judges him weak. The correct spelling of the name is Surayj—with the letters sin and jim—as noted by Ibn Makula and Ibn Hajar. In the base manuscript it has been corrupted to “Jurayj,” while al-Hakim 3/440 and Ibn Abi Hatim in al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil read “Shurayh,” and Ibn Hibban in al-Duʿafaʾ 1/109-110 “Surayh.”
(3) Al-Hakim 3/440 transmits the hadith through Ibn Abi Fudayk → Musa ibn Yaʿqub → ʿUmar ibn Saʿid ibn Surayj (both Musa and ʿUmar are weak) → ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Humayd → his father Humayd → Saʿid ibn Zayd. Al-Tirmidhi (no. 3748) relates it via Musa ibn Yaʿqub → ʿUmar ibn Saʿid, omitting the grandfather. This ʿUmar is ʿUmar ibn Saʿid ibn Abi Husayn al-Kufi al-Nawfali, a reliable narrator included by the two Shaykhs, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasaʾi, and Ibn Majah. Ahmad 1/193 and al-Tirmidhi (no. 3747) also report the tradition through Qutaybah ibn Saʿid → ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Muhammad al-Darawardi → ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Humayd → his father → ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf. This chain consists entirely of trustworthy transmitters.