573 - Al-Hasan ibn Salih al-'Attar informed me, saying: Harun ibn Ya'qub al-Hashimi narrated to us, saying: I heard Abu Ya'qub ibn al-'Abbas say: I asked Abu 'Abd Allah [Ahmad ibn Hanbal] about the hadith of precedence, the hadith of Ibn 'Umar. Abu Ja'far said to him: "The statement of Ibn 'Umar reaches the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and he does not say anything [against it]." Ahmad replied: "That was narrated by Yazid ibn Abi Habib, and the position we hold is the hadith of Ibn 'Umar: 'We used to grant precedence and say: Abu Bakr, and 'Umar, and 'Uthman,' and this is what he [the Prophet] held."