Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Taymi narrates: Sayyiduna Qatadah bin al-Nu'man al-Zafari (may Allah be pleased with him) criticised Quraysh and spoke ill of them, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"O Qatadah! Do not revile Quraysh, for it may be that you will see men among them in comparison with whose deeds you will consider your own deeds insignificant, and in comparison with whose actions you will consider your own actions insignificant, and when you see them you will envy them. Were it not for the fear that Quraysh would become arrogant, I would have told them what standing they have with Allah Almighty."
Ahmad recorded it in both mursal and musnad form, and he referred the wording of the musnad version back to the mursal one; al-Bazzar recorded it likewise, and al-Tabarani recorded it in musnad form. The narrators of al-Bazzar in the musnad version are the narrators of the Sahih, and the narrators of Ahmad in both the mursal and the musnad versions are the narrators of the Sahih, except for the narrator Ja'far bin Abdullah bin Aslam, whose case is different - he is in Musnad Ahmad - and he is thiqah (trustworthy). There is a difference of opinion about some of al-Tabarani's narrators.
Hadith Referenceمجمع الزوائد ومنبع الفوائد / كتاب المناقب / 16444
Hadith Gradingمحدثین:إسنادہ صحیح
Hadith Takhrij«اخرجه البزار فى المسند (2787) اخرجه الطبراني فى المعجم الكبير (6/19) اخرجه احمد فى المسند (384/6) ، أخرجه مسند أحمد برقم: 26617»