Narrated to us Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, narrated to us Abu Mu‘awiyah and Waki‘ — and narrated to us Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, informed us Jarir — and narrated to us Ibn Abi ‘Umar, narrated to us Sufyan, all of them from al-A‘mash — and narrated to us Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Numayr and Abu Sa‘id al-Ashajj, and the wording is theirs, they said: narrated to us Waki‘, narrated to us al-A‘mash, from ‘Abdullah ibn Murrah, from Abu al-Ahwas, from ‘Abdullah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Indeed, I disavow every close friend from his close friendship, and had I taken a close friend, I would have taken Abu Bakr as a close friend. Verily, your companion is the close friend of Allah."