he will have every hope of being the Prophet’s companion in Paradise. And Allah is the One who grants success.

107 – Thirteenth ḥadith: On the authority of Abū ʿAbd Allah—some say Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—Thawbān, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Adhere to frequent prostration, for you will never prostrate to Allah a single time without Allah elevating you one degree thereby and removing from you one sin.” Narrated by Muslim.

[Explanation]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—relates from Thawbān, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “ʿAlayka bi-kathrati as-sujūd” (commit yourself to abundant prostration). The phrase ʿalayka here means: hold fast to making many prostrations. “For you will never prostrate to Allah once but that Allah raises you by it a degree and erases from you a sin.”

This is akin to the preceding ḥadith of Rabīʿah ibn Kaʿb al-Aslamī, who requested the Prophet’s companionship in Paradise, and the Prophet ﷺ replied, “Then assist me concerning yourself by making many prostrations.” The report therefore proves that a person should increase his prostrations. We have already explained that increasing prostration necessarily entails increasing bowing, standing and sitting, for every rakʿah contains two prostrations and one bowing, and it is impossible to perform three or four prostrations within a single rakʿah. Consequently, abundant prostration inevitably means more bowing, standing and sitting.

The Prophet ﷺ then went on to clarify what reward a person receives when he prostrates, namely that