Ma’dan bin Talhah Yamari reports: I met Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a freed slave of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). I said to him: Narrate to me a hadith so that Allah may benefit me through it. He said: Prostration (sujood) is obligatory upon you, for I heard the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Whenever a person performs a prostration for the sake of Allah, Allah raises him one degree because of it and removes one sin from him because of it.” Ma’dan reports: Then I met Sayyiduna Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked him the same question. He gave a similar answer.