Book of the Remembrance of Allah, Mighty and Majestic

Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The son of Adam does no deed that saves him more from Hell than the remembrance of Allah." The Companions said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), not even striving in the path of Allah?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Not even striving in the path of Allah, even if you wield your sword until it breaks, then wield your sword until it breaks, then wield your sword until it breaks."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Busr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A bedouin said to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the commandments of Islam are very many. So tell me of a deed that I may hold on to firmly." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That your tongue be moist with the remembrance of Allah at all times."

Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever recites these words ten times: 'There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and for Him is the praise, in His hand is all good, and He has power over all things,' these words will be for him equal to freeing ten slaves or one slave."

Sayyiduna al-Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever recites these words: 'There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and for Him is the praise, and He has power over all things,' this is in reward like freeing a slave."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Remembering Allah morning and evening is a greater deed than breaking swords in the path of Allah and spending wealth continuously."

Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever would love to eat and drink from the gardens of Paradise, let him remember Allah much."

Ibn Sabit said that Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "That I should remember Allah, the Lord of Might, from early morning until the sun rises is dearer to me than that I should mount a riding animal to strive in the path of Allah from early morning until the sun rises."

Jubayr bin Nufayr said that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, those whose tongues are moist with the remembrance of Allah at all times will enter Paradise laughing."

Al-Rabi' bin Khuthaym said that Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever recites these words ten times: 'There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and for Him is the praise, and He has power over all things,' will receive for these words a reward equal to freeing four slaves." The narrator said: I think he said: "Slaves from the descendants of Isma'il."

Hilal said that Umm al-Darda said: "Whoever recites these words a hundred (100) times in the morning and a hundred times in the evening: 'There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and for Him is the praise, and He has power over all things,' no one will come on the Day of Resurrection with a deed like his, except one who has recited these words as many times or more."

Sa'id bin al-Musayyib said that Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If there were two men, one of them mounting a horse to strive in the path of Allah and the other remembering Allah, the one attaining greater merit, or greater reward, would be counted as the one who remembers."

Ka'b said: Musa (peace be upon him) said: "O my Lord, guide me to a deed which, when I do it, will be my thanks to You for all the good You have done for me." Allah, the Lord of Might, said: "O Musa, recite these words: 'There is no god but Allah,'" or He said: "'There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and for Him is the praise, and He has power over all things.'" Ka'b said: It was as though Musa (peace be upon him) wanted a deed such that whatever he was commanded would greatly exhaust his body. Ka'b said: Then Allah said to him: "O Musa, if the seven heavens and the seven earths were placed in one pan of the scale, and the kalimah tayyibah (There is no god but Allah) were placed in its other pan, the pan of the kalimah would outweigh them."

Salim said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) was told that Abu Sa'd bin Munabbih had freed a hundred slaves from his wealth. Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda said: "A hundred slaves is indeed a great many, but shall I tell you of what is better than that? It is that you keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah, with faith, day and night."

Suwayd bin Juhayl said: "Whoever recites these words after Asr: 'There is no god but Allah, to Him belongs the praise, and He has power over all things,' these words defend the one who says them until the same time the next day."

The same statement as the preceding one is also reported through this chain from Suwayd bin Juhayl, who was one of the companions of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sa'd bin Ibrahim said that Abu Ubaydah said: "Whichever servant remembers Allah is in a state of prayer."

Salim said that Masruq, the Successor, said: "So long as a man's heart continually remembers Allah, that person is in a state of prayer, even if he is in the marketplace."

Hilal said that Abu Ubaydah said: "So long as a man's heart continually remembers Allah, he is in a state of prayer, even if he is in the marketplace. And if he also moves his lips in remembrance, that is the most excellent."

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to a circle gathered in the mosque and said: "What has made you sit here?" The people said: "We are remembering Allah and praising Allah that He guided us through Islam and favoured us with Islam." Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah said: "By Allah, are you truly sitting for this purpose?" The people said: "By Allah, we are sitting only for this reason." Then Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah said: "I did not put you on oath out of any suspicion, and no one who holds a position like mine with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) narrates fewer hadith from him than I do. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a circle of the Companions and said: 'What has made you sit here?' The Companions said: 'We are sitting, remembering Allah and praising Him that Allah granted us the guidance of Islam and favoured us through it.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'By Allah, are you truly sitting for this?' The Companions said: 'By Allah, we are sitting only for this reason.' Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'I did not put you on oath out of any suspicion, but Jibril came to me and told me that Allah, the Lord of Might, is boasting of you before the angels.'"

Muhammad bin Ibrahim said that Sayyiduna Ubadah bin al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "That I should sit among people who remember Allah from the morning prayer until the sun rises is dearer to me than that I should sit on the back of a horse, striving in the path of Allah until the sun rises. And that I should be among such people who remember Allah from the Asr prayer until the sun sets is dearer to me than that I should sit on the back of a horse, striving in the path of Allah until the sun sets."

Abu Uthman said that Sayyiduna Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If one person spent the night giving away white slave-girls, and another person spent the night reciting the Qur'an or remembering Allah, my view is that this person, or he said: the one remembering Allah, is superior."

Abu al-Wazi' Jabir al-Rasibi said that Sayyiduna Abu Barzah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If there were two men, one of them coming from the marketplace with dinars in his lap which he was giving to people, and the other remembering Allah, the one remembering Allah would be counted superior."

Amr bin Shu'ayb said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If there were two men, one of whom came from the east and the other from the west, one of them having gold which he spends only on rightful causes and the other remembering Allah, until the two met on the road, the one who was remembering Allah would be counted the superior of the two."

Muhammad bin Abd al-Rahman said that Abu Ja'far said: "Nothing is dearer to me than giving thanks and remembrance."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah and Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with them both) bear witness regarding the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No group of Muslims sits in a gathering remembering Allah without the angels surrounding them, mercy covering them, and tranquility descending upon them, and Allah mentions them in the gathering of the angels."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever recites these words one hundred times in a day: There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things, this will be for him equal to freeing ten slaves; one hundred good deeds are written for him and one hundred of his sins are erased; these words will be a protection for him from Satan all day until night; and no one will bring on the Day of Resurrection a deed better than this, except a person who has recited these words more times than he has.

Sayyiduna Suhayl bin Hanzalah al-Abshami (may Allah be pleased with him) said that no people ever remember Allah without a caller (an angel) from the sky calling out: Rise, forgiven; your sins have indeed been changed into good deeds.

Hilal bin Yasaf said: There was a woman of the tribe of Hamdan who used to glorify Allah and count it on pebbles or date stones. She passed by Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), and he was told: This woman recites glorifications and counts them on pebbles or date stones. So Sayyiduna Abdullah called the woman and asked her: Are you the woman who recites glorifications and counts them? She said: Yes, I am the one who does that. Sayyiduna Abdullah said: Shall I not guide you to something better than this? Make remembrance like this: Allah is the Greatest, all abundant praise belongs to Allah, and morning and evening Allah is free of every defect.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) related a Hadith Qudsi: Allah says: Whoever remembers Me in his heart, I remember him in My heart; and whoever remembers Me in a gathering of people, I remember him in a gathering greater and purer than it.

Abu Uthman said that Sayyiduna Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When a servant remembers Allah in times of joy and praises Him in times of ease, and then some harm afflicts him and he supplicates to Allah, the angels say: This is the familiar voice of a weak servant; and then they intercede for that servant before Allah. And when a servant does not remember Allah in times of joy and does not praise Him in times of ease, and then some harm afflicts him and he supplicates to Allah, the angels say: "This is an unfamiliar voice."

Khalid bin Ma'dan said: Allah, the Lord of Might, gives charity every day, and Allah has never given any of His servants a charity better than His remembrance.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whoever recites these words in a day: There is no god but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things, these words will be for him equal to freeing four slaves from among the descendants of Ismail.

Sayyiduna al-Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever recites these words ten times: None is worthy of worship but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things, these words will be for him equal to freeing one soul (a slave).

Abu Rifa'ah, who is one of the Ansar, said that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whoever recites these words one hundred times in a day: None is worthy of worship but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things, then no one among the people of this world will have a deed better than his, except a person who has recited these words more times than he has.