He heard the Prophet ﷺ saying as he stood at al-Hazwarah in the marketplace of Mecca, "By Allah, you are the best of Allah's lands and the most beloved of Allah's lands to Allah . Had I not been driven out of you, I would never have left."
إنه سمع النبي ﷺ وهو واقف بالحزورة في سوق مكة: والله إنك لخير أرض الله، وأحب أرض الله إلى الله عز وجل، ولولا أني أخرجت منك ما خرجت.
Tirmidhi (3925), Ibn Majah (3108), and Ahmad (18715) narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (3708) and Hakim (3/7) graded it sahih, all of them through routes from Zuhri, who said, "Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman informed us, from Abdullah bin Adi bin Hamra Zuhri," then he related it. Its chain of transmission is sahih. Hakim said, "Sahih according to the standard of the two Shaykhs [Bukhari and Muslim]."Maamar differed from them, narrating it from Zuhri, from Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman, from Abu Hurairah, relating something similar. Ahmad (18718) narrated it from Abdul-Razzaq, from Maamar, who related it thus. The scholars have judged the narration of Abdullah bin Adi to be the more correct one, and they have explained that Maamar erred in it. Tirmidhi said, "The hadith of Zuhri, from Abu Salama, from Abdullah bin Adi bin Hamra, is in my view the more sahih."There is also disagreement over Maamar's narration, just as there is disagreement over Abu Salama's narration, for Muhammad bin Amr narrated it from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah, relating the hadith. Abu Hatim and Abu Zura said, "This is a mistake, and Muhammad bin Amr erred in it. Zuhri narrated it from Abu Salama, from Abdullah bin Adi bin Hamra, from the Prophet ﷺ, and this is the sahih version." Al-Ilal (1/280).