the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in an authentic hadith transmitted through several chains:

“The best of generations is the generation among whom I was sent, then those who follow them, then those who follow them.”

Ibn Hibbān thus mentioned two generations after the Prophet’s own, without dispute. Some hadiths express uncertainty about a third generation after his own, while other narrations affirm it unequivocally, making four generations in all. Ibn Hibbān al-Bustī and other hadith scholars likewise affirmed this in their accounts of the generations of this community, for this additional wording is established in the Sahīh.

As for the hadiths mentioning three generations, both Sahīh collections relate that Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The best of my community are the generation closest to me, then those who follow them, then those who follow them. Then there will come people whose testimony precedes their oath and whose oath precedes their testimony.”

In Sahīh Muslim, Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:

“A man asked the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ‘Which people are best?’ He replied, ‘The generation among whom I was sent, then the second, then the third.’”

As for the uncertainty concerning the fourth generation, both Sahīh collections relate from Imrān ibn Husayn that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The best of you are my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them”—Imrān said, “I do not know whether the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned two or three generations after his own”—“then