I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, "I and the Hour have been sent together. It nearly outpaced me."
سمعت النبي ﷺ يقول: بعثت أنا والساعة جميعا إن كادت لتسبقني.
Ahmad narrated it (22947) from Abu Naeem, who said, Bashir narrated to us, Abdullah bin Burayda narrated to me, from his father, and he mentioned it. Its isnad is hasan because of Bashir, who is Ibn Muhajir, for there is disagreement about him, though there is no harm in him when his hadith has a corroborating basis, and this is one such case.His statement, "It would race ahead of me," is like his statement in the hadith of Sahl bin Saad, "My likeness and the likeness of the Hour are like two racing horses."The point of it is to show how near the Hour is, not that the Hour would come before the mission of the Prophet ﷺ, for his mission, being the seal of the prophets, was certain to occur. And Allah knows best.