1 – Ḥammād narrated from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbdallāh, from Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him):

He once performed a prayer which he kept brief, yet he lengthened the rukūʿ (bowing) and the sujūd (prostration). When he finished, a man said to him, “You are a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and you pray like this?”

Abū Dharr replied, “Did I not complete the rukūʿ and the sujūd?”

The man answered, “Indeed.”

Abū Dharr then said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Whoever prostrates to Allah a single sajdah, Allah will raise him by it one rank in Paradise.’ So I wanted ranks to be granted—or to be recorded—for me.”

In another version, Ibrāhīm reported from someone who told him that he passed by Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) at al-Rabadhah while Abū Dharr was performing a light prayer in which he multiplied the rukūʿ and the sujūd. When Abū Dharr gave the taslīm (salutation of peace), the man said to him, “Do you pray like this even though you accompanied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?!”

Abū Dharr replied, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Whoever prostrates to Allah a single sajdah, Allah – the Exalted – will raise him thereby one rank in Paradise.’ For that reason I increase the number of sujūd in my prayer.”