Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sayyiduna Jibril (peace be upon him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah Almighty loves three of your Companions, O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! Then he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) again and said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), Paradise longs for three of your Companions. Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I intended to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about this, but out of awe I could not ask. I met Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and told him: O Abu Bakr, I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Sayyiduna Jibril (peace be upon him) said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), Paradise longs for three people; so perhaps you are one of them. Then I met Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said something similar to him. Then I met Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him the same thing I had said to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about it; if I am one of them, I will praise Allah Almighty, and even if I am not one of them, I will still praise Allah Almighty. Then he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and submitted: O Messenger of Allah, Anas has told me that Sayyiduna Jibril (peace be upon him) came to you and said: Paradise longs for three of your Companions. If I am one of them, I will praise Allah Almighty, and if I am not one of them, I will still praise Allah Almighty. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You are one of them, you are one of them; and one is Ammar bin Yasir, who will soon take part in battles, and his merit will become evident and his reward will be immense; and one is Salman, who is one of us, that is, of the People of the House; keep him as a companion." (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Al-Tirmidhi recorded a part of this report.
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains al-Nadr bin Humayd al-Kindi, who is matruk (abandoned).
Hadith Referenceمجمع الزوائد ومنبع الفوائد / كتاب المناقب / 14689