I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "The best of people in the time of ignorance are the best of them in Islam, provided they gain understanding of the religion."
سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: خيار الناس في الجاهلية خيارهم في الإسلام إذا فقهوا.
Ahmad (15112) reported it from Rawh, who said, Ibn Jurayj told us, Abu Zubayr informed me that he heard Jabir bin Abdullah saying (then he mentioned the hadith). Its chain is hasan, because of Abu Zubayr, who is Muhammad bin Muslim bin Tadrus, a truthful narrator who practiced tadlis, but he explicitly stated that he heard it directly. Haythami mentioned it in Al-Majma (1/161) and said, "Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih."