Sahih al-Bukhari 652, 653, 654

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Qutaiba narrated to us, from Malik, from Sumayy, the freedman of Abu Bakr, from Abu Salih al-Samman, from Abu Huraira, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘While a man was walking along a road, he found a thorny branch in the way and removed it. Allah appreciated this from him and forgave him.’ Then he said, ‘There are five kinds of martyrs: one who dies of plague, one who dies of an abdominal illness, one who drowns, one who dies beneath a collapsed structure, and one who is martyred in the path of Allah.’ He also said, ‘If people knew the reward in the call to prayer and the first row, and had no way to secure it except by drawing lots, they would draw lots. If they knew the reward in going early to the noon prayer, they would race for it. And if they knew the reward in the night and dawn prayers, they would come to them even crawling.’