English Translation

Abdullah told us, my father told me, Muhammad ibn Ja'far told us, Shu'bah told us, from al-Hakam, who said: I heard Urwah ibn al-Nazzal narrating from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, who said: We came with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, from the expedition of Tabuk, and when I saw him alone, I said, "O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a deed that will admit me to Paradise." He said, "You have asked about a great matter, yet it is easy for whoever Allah makes it easy for: you establish the prescribed prayer, pay the obligatory zakat, and meet Allah, Mighty and Majestic, without associating anything with Him. Shall I not show you the head of the matter, its pillar, and the top of its hump? As for the head of the matter, it is Islam; whoever submits is safe. As for its pillar, it is prayer. As for the top of its hump, it is striving in the way of Allah. Shall I not show you the gates of good? Fasting is a shield, and charity, and a servant's standing in prayer in the depth of the night, which erases sins." And he recited this verse: {Their sides forsake their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them.} "Shall I not show you what controls all of that for you?" He said: Then a group of people approached, and I feared they would occupy the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, away from me - Shu'bah said, or words to that effect - so I said, "O Messenger of Allah, your saying, 'Shall I not show you what controls all of that for you?'" The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, pointed with his hand to his tongue. I said, "O Messenger of Allah, will we be held accountable for what we speak?" He said, "May your mother be bereft of you, Mu'adh! Is there anything that throws people down on their faces except the harvests of their tongues?" Shu'bah said: al-Hakam said to me - and Maymun ibn Abi Shabib also narrated it to me - and al-Hakam said, "I heard it from him forty years ago."