Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Behold! Paradise longs for four of my Companions, and my Lord has commanded me to love them (those four)." At that time Sayyiduna Suhayb al-Rumi, Sayyiduna Bilal bin Rabah, Sayyiduna Talhah, Sayyiduna al-Zubayr, Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman and Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with them) were present. They said: O Messenger of Allah! Who are those four (please tell us), so that we may love them? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Ammar! Allah Almighty has given you knowledge of the hypocrites. As for these four, one of them is Ali bin Abi Talib, one is al-Miqdad bin al-Aswad al-Kindi, the third is Salman al-Farisi and the fourth is Abu Dharr al-Ghifari."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), except that the narrator named Ibn Ishaq is a mudallis.
Hadith Referenceمجمع الزوائد ومنبع الفوائد / كتاب المناقب / 14931