What is the meaning of the expression ''then a people would come, the testimony of one of them precedes his oath, and his oath precedes his testimony.''?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The expression that you mentioned is a part of a narration reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim and the wording of Muslim is as follows: "The best of my nation is the generation which comes after me, then the generation which comes after them, then the generation which comes after them, and then a people would come, the testimony of one of them precedes his oath, and his oath precedes his testimony." An-Nawawi said regarding the interpretation of the above narration: 'This is defamation to those who testify and then make an oath on it. Some of the Maaliki scholars took this narration as evidence on rejecting the testimony of the person who makes an oath on it, however, the majority of the scholars are of the view that their testimony is not rejected…'

The meaning of the narration is that they combine between the oath and the testimony, so sometimes they start with the testimony and then make the oath, and sometimes they make the oath and then they testify.

Allaah Knows best.