Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 9411

Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Before the Battle of Tabuk, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set out with the people. In the morning he led the people in the Fajr prayer, and the people set off. When the sun rose, the people began to doze because of travelling through the night. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) kept close to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), following behind him. The people's mounts had scattered here and there away from the main road; they were grazing as they went. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and his she-camel would sometimes graze and sometimes move on. The she-camel of Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) stumbled; he pulled it back by the reins and it sprang forward, until it came close to the she-camel of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) removed the cloth from his face and looked, and no one from the army was near him except Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him), who was close to him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called out to Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "O Mu'adh!" He replied: "At your service, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Come closer." He came closer to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), until their two mounts were touching each other. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I did not think the people were as far from us as they are." Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! The people began to doze, so their mounts scattered here and there; they are moving and grazing." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I too was dozing." When Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a cheerful mood and found him alone, he said: "O Messenger of Allah! Permit me to ask you about something that has made me ill, made me sick and made me sad." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Ask about whatever you wish." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! Tell me of a deed that will admit me into Paradise; I will not ask you about anything other than that." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Excellent, excellent, excellent! You have asked about something great; you have asked about something great; you have asked about something great!" He said this three times, (and then said:) "And it is easy for the one for whom Allah Almighty intends good; it is easy for the one for whom Allah Almighty intends good; it is easy for the one for whom Allah Almighty intends good." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) repeated whatever he said three times, out of his eagerness that Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) should retain it carefully. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You believe in Allah Almighty and the Last Day, establish the prayer, pay the zakah, and worship Allah Almighty alone, associating no partner with Him, until you die while you are in that state." Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Repeat it for me." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) repeated it three times. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Mu'adh, if you wish, I will tell you of the head of this matter, the mainstay of this matter, and the peak of its hump." Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Yes indeed! Tell me, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The head of this matter is that you bear witness that there is no god but Allah Almighty, He has no partner, and that Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His servant and His Messenger. The mainstay of this matter (that is, the most important thing) is establishing the prayer and paying the zakah, and the peak of its hump is jihad in the way of Allah. I have been commanded to fight people until they establish the prayer, pay the zakah, and bear witness that there is no god but Allah Almighty, He alone is God, He has no partner, and that Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His servant and His Messenger. When they do that, they will have held fast and will have protected their lives and their wealth, except for what is due upon them by right, and their reckoning will rest with Allah Almighty." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By the One in whose Hand is my soul, no face changes colour and no foot becomes dusty in any deed by which you seek the ranks of Paradise, after the obligatory prayer, like jihad in the way of Allah; and nothing makes a servant's scale heavy like an animal that is spent for him in the way of Allah, or on which he mounts someone in the way of Allah."
Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in abridged form. Its chain contains a narrator, Shahr bin Hawshab, who is da'if (weak), though his hadith has been graded hasan (good).