Narrated It was narrated that ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) said:
Shall I not tell you of the best of this ummah after its Prophet? Abu Bakr, and the best of it after Abu Bakr is `Umar (رضي الله عنهما) . Then Allah puts goodness wherever He wills.
Narrated It was narrated from ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) that He said on the day of the battle of the Camel:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not promise us anything on which we might base a claim of succession, rather it is something that we thought of ourselves, then Abu Bakr was appointed as his successor; may the mercy of Allah be upon Abu Bakr, for he did well and remained steadfast. Then ‘Umar was appointed as his successor, may the mercy of Allah be upon ‘Umar, for he did well and remained steadfast, until the religion of Islam became well established.
I heard `Ali (رضي الله عنه) say: The Prophet (ﷺ) instructed lbn Mas’ood to climb up a tree and he told him to bring him something from it, and his Companions looked at the shins of ‘Abdullah bin Masood when he climbed the tree and laughed at how thin his shins were, The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Why are you laughing? The leg of ‘Abdullah will be heavier in the Balance on the Day of Resurrection than (Mount) Uhud.”