Hadeeth 29
On the authority of Muadh bin Jabal
(may Allah be pleased with him) who said:
I said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me
of an act which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from the
Hellfire.” He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “You have asked
me about a great matter, yet it is easy for him for whom Allah makes it easy:
worship Allah, without associating any partners with Him; establish the prayer;
pay the zakat; fast in Ramadhan; and make the pilgrimage to the House.”
Then he (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) said, “Shall I not guide you towards the means of goodness?
Fasting is a shield; charity wipes away sin as water extinguishes fire; and the
praying of a man in the depths of the night.” Then he (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) recited: “[Those] who forsake their beds, to invoke their
Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allah’s cause) out of what We
have bestowed on them. No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a
reward for what they used to do.” [as-Sajdah, 16-17]
Then he (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) said, “Shall I not inform you of the head of the matter, its
pillar and its peak?” I said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “The head of the matter is Islam, its
pillar is the prayer and its peak is jihad.” Then he (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) said, “Shall I not tell you of the foundation of all of
that?” I said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” So he took hold of his tongue and
said, “Restrain this.”
I said, “O Prophet of Allah, will we be
taken to account for what we say with it?” He (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) said, “May your mother be bereaved of you, O Muadh! Is there anything
that throws people into the Hellfire upon their faces — or: on their noses —
except the harvests of their tongues?”
It was related by at-Tirmidhi, who said
it was a good and sound hadeeth.
