1440 – Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “On the night I was taken on the Night Journey, I met Abraham ﷺ. He said, ‘O Muḥammad, convey my greeting of peace to your community and tell them that Paradise has good soil and sweet water; it is a level plain, and its saplings are: subḥān Allāh (Glory be to Allah), al-ḥamdu lillāh (Praise be to Allah), lā ilāha illā Allāh (There is no deity but Allah), and Allāhu akbar (Allah is the Greatest).’” Related by al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan (sound).

1441 – Abū al-Dardāʾ (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Shall I not inform you of the best of your deeds, the purest of them in the sight of your Lord, the highest of them in your ranks, better for you than spending gold and silver, and better than meeting your enemy so that you strike their necks and they strike yours?” They replied, “Indeed, do tell us.” He said, “The remembrance of Allah, exalted is He.” Related by al-Tirmidhī; al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allah said its chain is authentic.

Explanation

All of the hadiths the author—may Allah have mercy on him—has cited in this chapter of Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn collectively point to the virtue of remembering Allah, as mentioned earlier, though some of them are weak. Among these is the report in which a man said to the Prophet ﷺ, “The rulings of Islam have become many for me,” and the Prophet replied, “Let your tongue never cease to be moist with the remembrance of Allah.” This hadith is weak, but if it is accepted as authentic, its meaning is that the man found the supererogatory acts burdensome, whereas the obligatory duties can never be replaced.