Ḥadīth 29: The Acts That Admit One to Paradise

On the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal (raḍ. ʿanhu) who said:

I said, "O Messenger of Allāh, tell me of an act which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from the Hellfire." He ﷺ said, "You have asked me about a great matter, yet it is easy for him for whom Allāh makes it easy: worship Allāh, without associating any partners with Him; establish the prayer; pay the zakāt; fast in Ramaḍān; and make the pilgrimage to the House." Then he ﷺ said, "Shall I not guide you towards the means of goodness? Fasting is a shield; charity wipes away sin as water extinguishes fire; and the praying of a man in the depths of the night." Then he ﷺ recited: "﴿Those who forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allāh's cause) out of what We have bestowed on them. No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do.﴾"¹ Then he ﷺ said, "Shall I not inform you of the head of the matter, its pillar and its peak?" I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allāh." He ﷺ said, "The head of the matter is Islām, its pillar is the prayer and its peak is jihād." Then he ﷺ said, "Shall I not tell you of the foundation of all of that?" I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allāh." So he took hold of his tongue and said, "Restrain this." I said, "O Prophet of Allāh, will we be taken to account for what we say with it?" He ﷺ said, "May your mother be bereaved of you, O Muʿādh! Is there anything that throws people into the Hellfire upon their faces (or: on their noses) except the harvests of their tongues?" It was related by al-Tirmidhī, who said it was a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth.