A man asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Which people are the best?"He replied, "The generation in which I live, then the second, then the third."
سأل رجل النبي ﷺ: أي الناس خير؟ قال: القرن الذي أنا فيه، ثم الثاني، ثم الثالث.
Muslim narrated it in the Virtues of the Companions (2536) through several routes from Husayn bin Ali Jafi, from Zaidah, from Suddi, from Abdullah Bahi, from Ayesha, and he related it.Part of the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community is that all the companions are trustworthy, meaning they would not deliberately lie about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, not that they never erred or made mistakes, and all of them are among the people of Paradise. So if a lapse occurred from one of them, they would hasten to repentance and seeking forgiveness.