and he, acting on your words—“Make the last of your night-time prayer an odd number”—performs the witr. Because you urged and encouraged him to do so, you will gain a reward equal to his. If someone else then learns this either from you or from the person you first taught and likewise performs the witr, you will still gain a reward equal to his, and so on in an unbroken chain until the Day of Resurrection.

This ḥadith also shows how immense the Prophet’s ﷺ rewards are, for he guided the entire ummah to the path of right guidance. Everyone in this ummah who acts upon that guidance brings the Prophet ﷺ a full share of reward, without their own rewards being diminished in the least; the doer and the caller each receive their complete recompense. Once it is clear that the Prophet ﷺ already receives a reward for every good deed his nation performs, the mistake of those who “gift” the reward of their acts of worship to the Messenger ﷺ becomes apparent. Some people, for example, strive to pray two rakʿahs and then say, “O Allah, grant the reward of these to the Messenger.” Or they recite Qur’an and say, “O Allah, let its reward be for the Messenger.” This is an error. The first appearance of this practice was in the fourth Islamic century—roughly three hundred years after the Prophet’s death—when certain scholars deemed it praiseworthy, arguing, “Just as I donate charity, prayer, or remembrance on behalf of my parents, I will present it to the Messenger ﷺ.” We say: this is a mistake—an unsound notion and a deviation in religion. To clarify, we ask: Are you more loving toward the Messenger than Abu Bakr? He will answer, “No.” More loving than ʿUmar? “No.” More than ʿUthmān? “No.” More than ʿAlī? “No.” More than Ibn ʿAbbās or Ibn Masʿūd and the rest of the Companions? Certainly not.