Al-Walid bin Abd al-Rahman narrates from Iyad bin Ghutayf: We visited Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) in his final illness; his wife was with him, and his face was turned towards the wall. We asked: "How did Abu Ubaydah spend the night?" His wife said: "He spent the night earning reward." Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) turned towards us and said: "I did not spend the night in reward." That troubled us, and we fell silent. Then he said: "Why do you not ask me about what I said?" We said: "It did not please us, so that we should ask you about it." He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever spends surplus wealth in the way of Allah will be given up to seven hundred times the reward; whoever spends on himself and his family, or removes something harmful from the road, or gives some charity, his good deed will be rewarded tenfold; fasting, when completed, serves as a shield; and whoever Allah, the Lord of Might, afflicts with a bodily illness, that illness will become a means of forgiveness of his sins."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب السير / 18567