The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The best of my community is the generation among whom I was sent, then those who follow them, then those who follow them." Allah knows best whether he mentioned the third generation or not. "Then a people will come who love plumpness and bear witness before being asked to bear witness."
حدثنا هشيم حدثنا أبو بشر عن عبد الله بن شقيق
قال رسول الله ﷺ خير أمتي القرن الذي بعثت فيهم ثم الذين يلونهم ثم الذين يلونهم والله أعلم أقال الثالثة أم لا ثم يجيء قوم يحبون السمانة يشهدون قبل أن يستشهدوا
Its isnad is sahih. Abu Bishr is Jafar bin Abu Wahshiya, and his father's name was Iyas. His biography was given previously at 6259. We add here that Ibn Abu Hatim gave his biography in Al-Jarh wal-Tadil 1/1/473, and here in [manuscript] ح it appears as "narrated to us Bishr," with "Abu" omitted, which is a clear printing error. Abdullah bin Shaqiq is Aqeeli Basri.Muslim narrated the hadith 2:271 with two isnads through Hushaym, and he also narrated it with two isnads through Shuba and Abu Awana, all three of them from Abu Bishr, with this isnad. It will come again through Shuba at 9307 and 10214, and see what came earlier in the Musnad of Ibn Masud at 4217, and what will come in the Musnad of Abu Hurairah at 8464 and 8844.Al-samanah, with fatha on the sin and no doubling of the mim, is a noun like al-saman, with kasra on the sin and fatha on the mim, the opposite of leanness.