Hazrat Abdullah, Allah be pleased with him, narrates: “I asked the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ‘Which deed is the dearest to Allah?’ He replied, ‘To offer the prayers at their fixed times.’ I asked, ‘What is the next (in goodness)?’ He replied, ‘To be good and dutiful to your parents.’ I again asked, ‘What is the next (in goodness)?’ He replied, ‘To participate in Jihad in Allah’s cause.’” Abdullah added, “I asked only that much and if I had asked more, the Holy Prophet s.a. would have told me more.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Mawaqit al-Salat)
