Grading: (1) This narration is sahih.

Reference / Source: Ibn Asakir narrated it in "Tarikh Dimashq" (42/ 418), Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi in his "Tafsir" (4/ 81) and Ibn al-Jazari in "Manaqib al-Asad al-Ghalib" (1), from Abu Abdullah al-Hakim, with this same chain.

Important point: Imam al-Bayhaqi said (as Ibn Asakir quoted from him): "This is because the Commander of the Believers Ali lived on after the other caliphs, until opponents appeared against him and rebels rose up against him. So the remaining Companions needed to narrate what they had heard about his virtues, ranks, merits and good qualities, in order to refute thereby what was unbefitting of him (whether in word or deed). He was worthy of every virtue and merit, and deserving of every precedence and rank. In his time no one was more entitled to the caliphate than he. He was in the right in refraining from seeking it before (in the time of the earlier caliphs), and entitled to seek it in his own time."