136 - Ahmad ibn Qudāmah al-Balkhī narrated to us in the year 299 AH: Muhammad ibn Muqātil narrated to us: al-Furāt ibn Khālid and Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated to us, from Jāmi‘ ibn Abī Rāshid, from Mundhir al-Thawrī, from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, who said:

I asked, “Father, who is the best of this community after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?”

He replied, “Abū Bakr.”

I asked, “Then who?”

He replied, “‘Umar.”

I feared that if I asked, “Then who?” he would say “‘Uthmān,” so I asked, “What about you, Father?”

He replied, “Your father is one of the Muslims.”