629 - Yusuf ibn 'Abd Allah wrote to me, saying: Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn al-Hasan narrated to us, saying: I heard Abu 'Abd Allah say regarding precedence [in virtue]: "Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman. As for the one who says: 'Ali, I do not rebuke him." Then he mentioned the hadith of Hammad ibn Salamah, from Sa'id ibn Jumhan, from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said: "The Caliphate in my Ummah will last for thirty years." And he—meaning Abu 'Abd Allah—said: "'Ali, in our view, is among the Rightly Guided Imams, and Hammad ibn Salamah is, in our view, the trustworthy one, and we only increase in insight regarding him every day."
٦٢٩ - وَكَتَبَ إِلَيَّ يُوسُفُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ: ثَنَا الْحَسَنُ بْنُ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَسَنِ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ فِي التَّفْضِيلِ: " أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ وَعُثْمَانُ، وَمَنْ قَالَ: عَلِيٌّ، لَمْ أُعَنِّفْهُ "، ثُمَّ ذَكَرَ حَدِيثَ حَمَّادِ بْنِ سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُمْهَانَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «الْخِلَافَةُ فِي أُمَّتِي ثَلَاثُونَ سَنَةً» . وَقَالَ: يَعْنِي أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: «عَلِيٌّ عِنْدَنَا مِنَ ⦗٤٢١⦘ الْأَئِمَّةِ الرَّاشِدِينَ، وَحَمَّادُ بْنُ سَلَمَةَ عِنْدَنَا الثِّقَةُ، وَمَا نَزْدَادُ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ فِيهِ إِلَّا بَصِيرَةً»
