Sayyidina Mu’adh ibn Jabal (RA) narrated: I was with the Prophet (SAW) in a journey. One day, I came very near him while we were travelling. I said, “O Messenger, tell me of a deed which will enable me to enter Paradise and get me away from Hell.’” You have asked me about a great thing, but it is easy for those for whom Allah makes it easy. Worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him and observe Salah and pay Zakah and fast in Ramadan and make the pilgrimage to the House.” Then he said, “Shall I not guide you to the gates of good: fasting is as shield and charity obliterates sin as water extinguishes fire and a man’s Salah at midnight.” Then he recited:
"Their sides forsake their beds as they call on their Lord in fear and in hope, and they expend out of what We have provided them. No soul knows what delight of the eyes is kept hidden for them, as a recompense for what they used to do.” (Al-Quran 32:16-17)
Then, he said, “Shall I not inform you of the head and pillar of the issue and the apex of its hump?” I said, ‘Certainly, O Messenger of Allah (SAW) .” He said, “Its head is Islam, its pillar is Salah and the apex of its hump is jihad.” Then he said, “Shall I not tell you about the root of that”? I said, “Certainly, O Messenger of Allah (SAW)!” He held his tongue and said, “Keep it in check.” I asked, “Shall we be taken to task for what we speak with it”? He said, “May your mother weep at you, O Mu’adh! Will people be cast in hell on their faces or on their nostrils except as the consequence of their tongues?”
[Ahmed 22-77,Ibn Majah 3973]
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