Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 32326 — Reports on faith and Islam

Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were returning with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Battle of Tabuk. When I saw him (peace and blessings be upon him) alone, I asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Tell me of a deed by acting upon which I will enter Paradise." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Well done, well done! You have asked about a very great matter, and it is easy for the one for whom Allah makes it easy. It is that one keeps up the obligatory prayer and pays the obligatory zakah, and that you meet Allah in the state that you have not associated anything with Him. And shall I not guide you to the foundation of the matter, its pillar and its summit? As for the foundation of the matter, it is Islam; whoever embraces Islam is safe. Its pillar is prayer, and its summit and hump is fighting in the path of Allah."