The Book of Asceticism · Hadith 159 (#Ḥadīth #10)

النضر بن سويد عن علي بن رئاب عن زرارة قال: قلت لأبي جعفر عليه السلام: الناس يروون عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله أنه قال: أشرفكم في الجاهلية أشرفكم في الاسلام فقال عليه السلام: صدقوا وليس حيث تذهبون كان أشرفهم في الجاهلية أسخاهم نفسا وأحسنهم خلقا وأحسنهم جوارا واكفهم اذى فذلك الذي إذا أسلم لم يزده اسلامه الا خيرا.

10.Al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd narrated from ʿAlī ibn Riʾāb, from Zurārah who said, “I told Abū Jaʿfar , ‘People are narrating that the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, “The most honourable among you during the Age of Ignorance are the most honourable among you in Islam.”’ He said, ‘They have spoken the truth, but it is not as they understand it. The most honourable of them during the Age of Ignorance were the most generous among them, those who had the best character, were most neighbourly, and least likely to cause harm [to anyone] – this is the kind of person whose acceptance of Islam increased him in nothing but goodness.’”

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).