417 - ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us, saying: Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to me, saying: al-Sabī ibn al-Ashʿath narrated to me, from Abū Ishāq, from ʿAbd Khayr, from ʿAlī, who said:

“Shall I tell you who is the best of this community after its Prophet? Abū Bakr, and the second is ʿUmar. If I wished, I could name the third.”

Abū Ishāq said: “ʿAbd Khayr spelled these words out so that they would have no doubt about what ʿAlī had said.”