The Islamic prophet, Muhammad, in a hadith accepted by Sunni Muslims, specified ten of his companions who were promised paradise. Those companions named in this hadith are referred to by Sunnis as The Ten Promised Paradise (Arabic: العشرة المبشرون بالجنة; al-`Asharaa al-Mubasharûn bi-l-Janna).
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The Hadith
Narrated Abdur Rahman bin Awf:
that the Messenger of Allah said: "Abu Bakr is in Paradise, 'Umar is in Paradise, 'Uthman is in Paradise, 'Ali is in Paradise, Talhah is in Paradise, Az-Zubair is in Paradise, 'Abdur Rahman bin Awf is in Paradise, Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas is in Paradise, Sa'id ibn Zayd is in Paradise, and Abu 'Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah is in Paradise."
Muslim view
Muslims put different weight on this hadith, the majority of the Sunnis, viewing it as very favourable whilst the Shiites dismmissed it in its entirety. Quranists also view the hadith of the ten as a fabrication falsely attributed to the Prophet & contrary to the Quranic text & other Sunni hadith.
This hadith was narrated in three collections by Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, and Ibn Majah.
The Sunni canon of hadith, called the Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadith collections), includes: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Al-Sunan al-Sughra, Jami` at-Tirmidhi and Sunan ibn Majah. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are considered the most reliable of these collections.
Sunnis say that Muhammad's companions were sorted into twelve groups and of these the ten promised paradise were ranked first.