It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say on the pulpit concerning the Ansar: "Know that the people are like the outer garment (dithar) to me, while the Ansar are like the inner garment next to my body (shi'ar). If the people were to travel through one valley and the Ansar through a mountain pass, I would follow the mountain pass of the Ansar. So whoever is put in charge of the affairs of the Ansar, let him treat well those of them who do good and overlook those of them who err. Whoever frightens them has, as it were, frightened the one who is between these two sides — and he (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to himself — were it not for the (virtue of) emigration, I would have been one of the Ansar." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.