geeljire your victim of saudi funded brainwashing called salafism
A Salaf (Arabic: سلف , "ancestor")
its clanish racist word.. it has nothing to do whit sahabas... you will not find this word from quran or any hadith.. salafism is invented in saudi arabia by the clan of mohhamed abdulwahaab.. Salaf is a cult.. boko haraam. Isis. al shabaab all of them are salafis....
You asked for Hadith
Sahih al Bukhari
Volume 8, Book 76, Number 437:
Narrated 'Abdullah :
The Prophet said, "The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness."
Those three generations are the salaf ("pious Predecessors" (السلف الصالح as-Salaf as-Ṣāliḥ)
Generation 1 - Prophet scw and Sahaba(companions of the prophet scw)
Generation 2 - followers of the sahaba (Tabi‘un)
Generation 3 Followers of the followers (Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in).