that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

“The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so supplicate frequently.”

The ninth argument:

Muslim narrated in his Sahīh that Maʿdān ibn Abī Talhah said:

“I met Thawbān, the client of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and said, ‘Tell me of a deed by which Allah will admit me to Paradise’—or he said, ‘of the deeds most beloved to Allah.’ He remained silent. Then I asked him a second time, and he said, ‘I asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) about that, and he said: “Prostrate frequently to Allah, for every prostration you make to Allah is a means by which Allah raises you one degree and removes one sin from you.”’”

Maʿdān said: “Then I met Abū al-Dardāʾ and asked him, and he told me the same as Thawbān had told me.”

If he asked him about the deeds most beloved to Allah, this explicitly establishes that prostration is more beloved to Allah than the other acts. If he asked him about what would cause Allah to admit him to Paradise, he directed him to prostration rather than standing, showing that it is more conducive to attaining the intended goal.

Those who consider frequent prostration superior to prolonged prostration cite this hadith as evidence, because he said:

“For every prostration you make to Allah is a means by which Allah raises you one degree and removes one sin from you.”

Yet it does not substantiate that view, for although every prostration earns that reward, prostrations are of different kinds. If one prostration is superior to another, the elevation in rank it brings is greater, as is the remission of sins it brings, just as a prostration in which one has greater humility and presence of heart is superior