Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2222
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَوَانَةَ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ زُرَارَةَ بْنِ أَوْفَى، عَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَيْنٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " خَيْرُ أُمَّتِي الْقَرْنُ الَّذِي بُعِثْتُ فِيهِمْ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ " . قَالَ وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ ذَكَرَ الثَّالِثَ أَمْ لاَ " ثُمَّ يَنْشَأُ أَقْوَامٌ يَشْهَدُونَ وَلاَ يُسْتَشْهَدُونَ وَيَخُونُونَ وَلاَ يُؤْتَمَنُونَ وَيَفْشُو فِيهِمُ السِّمَنُ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd narrated to us; Abū ‘Awānah narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Zurārah ibn Awfā, from ‘Imrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, who said that the Messenger of Allah said: “The best of my community is the generation among whom I was sent, then those who follow them.” ‘Imrān said: “I do not know whether he mentioned the third generation or not.” Then groups will arise who give testimony without being asked to testify, betray trusts and are not trusted, and corpulence will become widespread among them.
Abū ‘Īsā said: This is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ hadith.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The narrator explicitly expresses uncertainty about whether the Prophet mentioned a third generation; that uncertainty is preserved.