Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

1301 – Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever is content with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad as messenger, Paradise is assured for him.” Abū Saʿīd was amazed and said, “Repeat it for me, O Messenger of Allah.” So he repeated it for him and then added, “There is another deed by which Allah raises a servant one hundred ranks in Paradise—the distance between any two ranks is like that between heaven and earth.” He asked, “What is it, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Jihad in Allah’s cause—jihad in Allah’s cause.” Narrated by Muslim.

[Explanation]
These several narrations all speak of the excellence of striving in Allah’s cause. Among its virtues are:

• When a person is killed as a martyr, he will come on the Day of Resurrection with his wound still bleeding; its color is the color of blood and its fragrance the fragrance of musk. Everyone—the first and the last of this nation and others besides it—and even the angels will witness him on that momentous day. This confers honor upon him in both this world and the next.

• Whoever fights for no longer than the span of a camel’s fawāq (the brief interval between two milkings) has Paradise guaranteed for him. If he merely stands in the battle line for that amount of time, striving so that Allah’s word remains supreme, Paradise becomes incumbent for him.

• Likewise, the one who sets out for jihad in Allah’s cause earns the reward of a person who fasts by day and stands in prayer by night from the moment he departs until he returns; and the fasting, praying worshiper from the moment the combatant departs until—