جامع ترمذی · Hadith 3233

Narrated Abu Qilabah: from Ibn 'Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: During the night, my Lord, Blessed is He, and Most High, came to me in the best of appearances. He (one of the narrators) said - I think he said it was during a dream - So he said: 'O Muhammad! Do you know in what the most exalted group busy themselves with?' He said: I said: 'No.' He said: So He placed His Hand between my shoulders, until I sensed its coolness between my breast. - or he said: on my throat, so I knew what was in the heavens, and what was in the earth. He said: 'O Muhammad! Do you know in what the most exalted group busy themselves with?' I said: 'Yes, in the acts that atone: and the acts that atone are; lingering in the Masjid after the Salat, walking on the feet to the congregation, Isbagh Al-Wudu, in difficulty, and whoever does that, he lives in goodness and dies upon goodness, and his wrongs shall be like that of the day his mother bore him.' He said: 'O Muhammad! When you have performed Salat then say: 'O Allah! Indeed I ask of You, the doing of good deeds, avoiding the evil deeds, and loving the poor. And when you have willed Fitnah for your slave, then take me to You, without making me suffer from Fitnah.' He [the Prophet (ﷺ)] said: And the acts that raise ranks are spreading the Salam, feeding others, and Salat during the night, while the people are sleeping.

Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan · Reviewed by Islamic University of Madinah · Published March 2020