561 - Abu Dawud narrated to us, he said: Shu'bah narrated to us, from Al-Hakam, from 'Urwah ibn al-Nazzal - or al-Nazzal ibn 'Urwah - from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, who said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, inform me of a deed that will enter me into Paradise." He said: "Bakhin, bakhin (excellent, excellent), you have asked about a great matter, and indeed it is easy for the one for whom Allah makes it easy. Perform the prescribed prayer, and pay the obligatory Zakat. Shall I not inform you of the head of the matter, its pillar, and its peak? As for the head of the matter, it is Islam; whoever submits (to Allah) is safe. Its pillar is the prayer, and its peak is Jihad in the cause of Allah. Shall I not guide you to the gates of goodness? Fasting is a shield, and charity extinguishes sin, and the standing of the servant in the middle of the night
(134)," and he recited: {Their sides forsake their beds} to the end of the verse. "Shall I not inform you of what controls all of that?" He said: Then a group of riders or a rider appeared
(135), so the Messenger of Allah (saw) pointed with his hand to his tongue
(136), and I said
(137): "And will we be held accountable for what we speak with our tongues?" The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "May your mother be bereaved of you, O Mu'adh! Does anything topple people on their nostrils into the Fire except the harvests of their tongues?"