In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, we considered no one equal to Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman. After them, we left the companions of the Prophet ﷺ without ranking one above another.
كنا في زمن النبي ﷺ لا نعدل بأبي بكر أحدا، ثم عمر، ثم عثمان، ثم نترك أصحاب النبي ﷺ لا نفاضل بينهم.
Bukhari narrated it in Fadail al-Sahabah (3697) from Muhammad bin Hatim, who said, Shazan narrated to us, who said, Abdul-Aziz bin Abu Salama Majishun narrated to us, from Ubaydullah, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, who said, and then he mentioned it.Bazzar (6083) and Tabarani in al-Kabir (13181) both narrated it, both through the route of Abu Asim, from Umar bin Muhammad, from Abdullah bin Yasar, from Salim, from Ibn Umar, who said, "You know that we used to say, in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman," meaning regarding the caliphate. Haythami mentioned it in Majma (5/177) and said, "Bazzar and Tabarani narrated it, and the narrators of Bazzar are the narrators of the Sahih."I say, his statement "meaning regarding the caliphate" was narrated solely by Umar bin Muhammad, and he contradicted the memorizers, for they do not mention this addition, as the wording of Bukhari showed above. That is why Bazzar said, right after recording this hadith, "This hadith is narrated from Ibn Umar through several routes, in which he said, 'We did not rank any of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ above another, and we used to say, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, and then we would not rank further after that.' Umar bin Muhammad was not a memorizer, and this becomes clear in his hadith whenever he narrates from someone other than Salim."In this statement there is an indication that the correct version is what is found in Sahih Bukhari, and the wording mentioning the caliphate is anomalous.