Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, said, "The best of men is Abu Bakr. The best of men is
'Umar. The best of men is Abu 'Ubayda. The best of men is Usayd ibn Hudayr.
The best of men is Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas. The best of men is Mu'adh
ibn 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh. The best of men is Mu'adh ibn Jabal." Then he said,
"The worst of men is so-and-so. The worst of men is so-and-so," until he
had named seven men.
'A'isha said, "A man asked permission to come to the Messenger
of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Messenger of
Allah said, 'He is an evil son of his tribe.' When the man came in, the
Prophet was courteous and cheerful towards him. When that man left, another
man asked permission to come in. He said, 'He is an excellent son of his
tribe.' When he came in, he was not cheerful towards him as he had been
cheerful towards the other man. When he left, I said, 'Messenger of Allah,
you said what you said about so-and-so and yet you were courteous to him.
You said what you said about so-and-so and I did not see you do the same.'
He said, ''A'isha, the worst of people are those who are feared on account
of their bad language.'"
Ibrahim at-Taymi reported that his father said, "We were sitting
with 'Umar and one man praised another man to his face." He said, "You
have wounded the man. May Allah wound you."
