6 - Muhammad ibn Abi Harun informed me, saying: Muthanna narrated to us, saying: I read to Ahmad, from Muhammad ibn Ja'far, who said: Shu'bah narrated to us, from Furat, who said: I heard Abu Hazim—Abu Abd Allah said: [He is] a Kufan, a mawla (freedman) of 'Azzah from the tribe of Ashja' [78]—saying: I sat with Abu Hurayrah for five years, [and] I heard him narrating from the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said: "The Prophets used to govern the Children of Israel. Every time a Prophet passed away, another Prophet succeeded him. Yet there is no Prophet after me. There will be Caliphs, and they will be numerous." They said: "What do you command us?" He said: "Fulfill the pledge of allegiance to the first, then the first. Give them their right that Allah has granted them, for Allah will ask them about that which He entrusted to their care." Abu Abd Allah said: "How excellent this hadith is!"—as if he admired it—"And it is the position of the People of the Sunnah," or as he said.