The Prophet ﷺ was asked, "Messenger of Allah, who are the best of people?"He replied, "Myself and those with me."He was then asked, "Then who, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "Those who come after them."He was asked again, "Then who, Messenger of Allah?"At that, he dismissed them.
حدثنا صفوان أخبرنا محمد بن عجلان عن أبيه
قيل للنبي ﷺ يا رسول الله أي الناس خير قال أنا ومن معي قال فقيل له ثم من يا رسول الله قال الذي على الأثر قيل له ثم من يا رسول الله قال فرفضهم
Its isnad is sahih. Safwan is Ibn Isa Basri. The hadith will come again at 8464 through Yunus, from Layth, who is Ibn Saad, from Ibn Ajlan, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, as a marfu narration, and in it, "then those who follow" three times, then he said, "then it was as if he abandoned whoever remained."Abu Naeem related it in Hilyah 2:278 through the route of Abu Asim, who is Nabil, from Ibn Ajlan, and in it, "then those who follow" twice, and he said, "abandon them" on the fourth occurrence, as if the third had been dropped for brevity, or had fallen out through the copyists' oversight, given the explicit mention of the fourth.Then Abu Naeem said, "Safwan bin Isa related it from Ibn Ajlan in the same way."Safwan's narration, as we have it here, contains it only once, and this is likewise established in the three original manuscripts, and likewise in Jami al-Masanid, and in Sunan 7:285. So I do not know whether this is an abridgment on the part of Safwan bin Isa, or whether it fell out of the old copies of the Musnad.See 7123, 8844.