—ʿUqbah ibn Abī Thubayt al-Rāsabī narrated to us, from Abū al-Jawzāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Among the people of Paradise is the one whose two ears are filled—while he can still hear—with the people’s praise of goodness; and among the people of the Fire is the one whose two ears are filled—while he can still hear—with the people’s censure of evil.” A similar wording is recorded by Ibn Mājah through the transmission of Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm. (1)

Al-Qāḍī Abū ʿUbayd ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Harbawayh related: Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to us—Khalaf ibn Khalīfah narrated to us—from Abū Hāshim, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Shall I tell you which of your men are among the people of Paradise? The Prophet is in Paradise; the Siddīq is in Paradise; the martyr is in Paradise; and the man who visits his brother in a distant quarter of the land, visiting him only for Allah’s sake, is in Paradise. And among your women who are of the people of Paradise is the affectionate, child-bearing, ever-returning wife who, when her husband is angry—or when she herself becomes angry—comes and takes his hand and says, ‘I will not taste sleep until you are pleased.’” Al-Nasāʾī has transmitted part of this ḥadīth through Khalaf ibn Khalīfah, from Abū Hāshim—Yahyā ibn Dīnār—by the same chain. (2)

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This community will constitute the majority of the people of Paradise; they will hold the loftiest ranks, and the very first to enter will be its foremost generation. Allah, Most High, says about the nearest ones: “A multitude from the early generations (13) and but a few from later times (14)” (Surah al-Wāqiʿah 56:13-14). And regarding the people of the right, He says: “A multitude from the early generations (39) and a multitude from later times (40)” (56:39-40).

It is authentically established in the Two Ṣaḥīḥs that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The best of generations (3) is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them. After that there will come people who love to be corpulent, who make vows but do not fulfil them, who give testimony unasked, and who betray trusts and are not to be trusted.” (4)

The elite of that first generation are the Companions. As Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Whoever among you wishes to follow a path, let him follow the path of those who have already passed away, for the living are not safe from temptation. Those are the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ: the purest hearts in this Ummah, the most truthful tongues, the deepest in knowledge, and the least pretentious. They are a people whom Allah chose for the companionship of His Messenger ﷺ and the establishment of His religion. So recognise their virtue and follow in their footsteps, for they were upon sound guidance.” (5)