Harun ibn Ma‘ruf Abu Ali al-Darir informed us; Anas ibn Iyad informed us; Abd Allah ibn Sa‘id ibn Abi Hind related to us, from Ziyad ibn Abi Ziyad, the freedman of Abd Allah ibn Ayyash, from Abu Tajribah, from Abu al-Darda, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Shall I not inform you of the best and purest of your deeds in the sight of your Sovereign, the highest of them in your ranks, and that which is better for you than giving gold and silver, and than meeting your enemy so that you strike their necks and they strike yours?” They said, “What is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “The remembrance of Allah.” (1)
Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sam‘an informed us; Abu Ja‘far ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Rayani informed us; Humayd ibn Zanjawayh informed us; Abu al-Aswad informed us; Ibn Lahi‘ah informed us, from Darraj, from Abu al-Samh, from Abu al-Haytham, from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that he was asked, “Which servants will have the highest rank with Allah on the Day of Resurrection?” He said: “Those who remember Allah often.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, even more than one who fights in the path of Allah?” He said: “Even if he were to strike the disbelievers and idolaters with his sword until it broke or became stained with blood, one who remembers Allah often would be higher in rank than him.” (2)
It has also been related to us that a Bedouin said, “O Messenger of Allah, which deeds are best?” He said: “That you depart from this world while your tongue is moist with the remembrance of Allah.” (3)
Isma‘il ibn Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani informed us; Abd al-Ghafir ibn Muhammad al-Farisi informed us; Muhammad ibn Isa al-Juludi informed us; Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Sufyan informed us; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri informed us; Umayyah ibn Bistam al-‘Ayshi informed us; Yazid—that is, Ibn Zuray‘—informed us; Rawh ibn al-Qasim informed us, from al-‘Ala’, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was travelling along the road to Mecca when he passed a mountain called Jumdan,