The Companion who narrated the greatest number of ḥadith is Abū Hurayrah, followed by Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Anas, and ʿĀʾishah. As for transmitted legal verdicts, the largest corpus comes from Ibn ʿAbbās.
Masrūq said, “The knowledge of the Companions settled with six: ʿUmar, ʿAlī, Ubayy, Zayd, Abū al-Dardāʾ, and Ibn Masʿūd. The knowledge of these six was then distilled in ʿAlī and ʿAbd Allāh.”
Among the Companions there is a group known as the ʿAbādilah (the Abdallahs): Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. Ibn Masʿūd is not counted among them, nor are the other Companions named ʿAbd Allāh, who number about two hundred and twenty.
Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away leaving one hundred and fourteen thousand Companions who heard directly from him and from whom reports have been transmitted.” Scholars have differed over how many tiers they fall into; al-Ḥākim divided them into twelve levels. Allah knows best.
Third: The most virtuous of them, without qualification, is Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar—by the unanimous agreement of Ahl al-Sunnah—then ʿUthmān, then ʿAlī. This is the view of the majority of Sunni scholars. Al-Khattābī reported that the Sunnis of Kūfah place ʿAlī before ʿUthmān; this was also the opinion of Abū Bakr ibn Khuzaymah. Abū Manṣūr al-Baghdādī said: “Our scholars are agreed that the most excellent are the four caliphs, then the remainder of the Ten Promised Paradise, then the People of Badr, then those of Uḥud, then those who pledged at al-Riḍwān. Also enjoying distinction are those of the two pledges at al-ʿAqabah among the Anṣār, and the earliest forerunners. According to Ibn al-Musayyib and a group of scholars, the ‘earliest forerunners’ are those who prayed facing both qiblahs; according to al-Shaʿbī they are the Companions present at the Pledge of Riḍwān; and according to Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb and ʿAṭāʾ they are the People of Badr.”
Fourth: With regard to the first person to embrace Islam, some say it was Abū Bakr, others ʿAlī, others Zayd, and others Khadījah—and the last view is deemed correct by a number of leading scholars. Al-Thaʿlabī even claimed consensus on it, stating that the disagreement concerns only those who came after her. The more circumspect formulation is to say: among the free men it was Abū Bakr, and among the youngsters it was ʿAlī.