Majma al-Zawaid 16405 — Reports on the first generation and those

Sayyiduna al-Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The best of people is my generation, then those after them, then those after them, then those after them. Then people will come whose oaths will precede their testimony and whose testimony will precede their oaths."
Imam Ahmad and Imam al-Bazzar recorded it, and Imam al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Their routes contain a narrator, Asim bin Bahdalah, and he is hasan al-hadith (good in hadith); the remaining narrators of Imam Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.