Sunan Abi Dawud Book 42, Hadith 54
AbdurRahman ibn al-Akhnas said that when he was in the mosque, a man mentioned Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). So Sa'id ibn Zayd got up and said: I bear witness to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that I heard him say: Ten persons will go to Paradise: The Prophet (ﷺ) will go to Paradise, AbuBakr will go to Paradise, Umar will go to Paradise, Uthman will go to Paradise, Ali will go to Paradise, Talhah will go to Paradise: az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam will go to paradise, Sa'd ibn Malik will go to Paradise, and AbdurRahman ibn Awf will go to Paradise. If I wish, I can mention the tenth. The People asked: Who is he: So he kept silence. The again asked: Who is he: He replied: He is Sa'id ibn Zayd.
Abdullah ibn Zalim al-Mazini said: I heard Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl say: When so and so came to Kufah, and made so and so stand to address the people, Sa'id ibn Zayd caught hold of my hand and said: Are you seeing this tyrant? I bear witness to the nine people that they will go to Paradise. If I testify to the tenth too, I shall not be sinful.
I asked: Who are the nine? He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said when he was on Hira': Be still, Hira', for only a Prophet, or an ever-truthful, or a martyr is on you. I asked: Who are those nine? He said: The Messenger of Allah, AbuBakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Talhah, az-Zubayr, Sa'd ibn AbuWaqqas and AbdurRahman ibn Awf. I asked: Who is the tenth? He paused a moment and said: it is I.
Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by al-Ashja'i, from Sufyan, from Mansur, from Hilal b. Yasaf, from Ibn Hayyan on the authority of 'Abd Allah b. Zalim through his different chain of narrators in a a similar manner.
I was sitting with someone in the mosque of Kufah while the people of Kufah were with him. Then Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl came and he welcomed him, greeted him, and seated him near his foot on the throne. Then a man of the inhabitants of Kufah, called Qays ibn Alqamah, came. He received him and began to abuse him.
Sa'id asked: Whom is this man abusing? He replied: He is abusing Ali. He said: Don't I see that the companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) are being abused, but you neither stop it nor do anything about it? I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say--and I need not say for him anything which he did not say, and then he would ask me tomorrow when I see him --AbuBakr will go to Paradise and Umar will go to Paradise. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect (as in No. 4632).
He then said: The company of one of their man whose face has been covered with dust by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is better than the actions of one of you for a whole life time even if he is granted the life-span of Noah.