56 deeds the Qur’an and Sunnah describe as carrying great reward — each stated in the words of the text itself, with its reference.
For each deed, the “reward” line reports what the text says, attributed — no more and no less. It is not a guarantee that doing the act will produce the outcome for you. Acceptance rests on sincerity, on following the Sunnah, and on Allah’s grace — and the judgement in the end is His alone.
And remember: voluntary acts do not stand in place of the obligations. The greatest weight lies in what Allah made obligatory, and then in the voluntary acts that draw the servant nearer to Him.
A charity whose benefit keeps flowing after you: a well, a masjid, a school, a copy of the Qur’an left behind.
The Prophet ﷺ said: when a person dies his deeds come to an end except three — a continuing charity, knowledge benefited from, and a righteous child who supplicates for him.
Give towards a place where Allah is worshipped — however small the share.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever builds a masjid for Allah, Allah builds for him the like of it in Paradise.
Plant something that will feed people, birds or animals after you.
The Prophet ﷺ said: no Muslim plants a tree or sows a crop, and then a bird, a human or an animal eats from it, but that it is a charity for him.
Provide drinking water — a cooler, a pump, a well, or a glass handed to someone thirsty.
When asked which charity is best, the Prophet ﷺ answered: water.
Pass on beneficial knowledge — a lesson, a correction, a verse explained to a child.
The Prophet ﷺ counted “knowledge benefited from” among the three deeds that continue after death.
Set out to learn your religion — a circle, a class, a book studied with a teacher.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever travels a path seeking knowledge, Allah makes easy for him a path to Paradise.
Point a person to a good deed, or connect them to someone who can help.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever guides to good has the like of the reward of the one who does it.
Invite to what is right, with wisdom and good words.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever calls to guidance has a reward like the rewards of those who follow it, without that diminishing their rewards in any way.
Two short sunnah rakʿah prayed before the obligatory Fajr.
The Prophet ﷺ said: the two rakʿah of Fajr are better than the world and all that is in it.
Pray the obligatory prayers with the jamāʿah.
The Prophet ﷺ said: prayer in congregation surpasses the prayer of one of you alone by twenty-seven degrees.
The two prayers hardest on the self — attended with the jamāʿah.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever prays ʿIshāʾ in congregation is as though he prayed half the night, and whoever prays Fajr in congregation is as though he prayed the whole night.
The regular sunnah rakʿah around the five prayers.
A narration states: whoever prays twelve rakʿah in a day and a night voluntarily, a house is built for him in Paradise.
Two or more rakʿah in the forenoon, once the sun has risen well.
The Prophet ﷺ said a charity is due for every joint of a person each morning — and that two rakʿah of Ḍuḥā suffice for all of that.
Prayer in the depth of the night, after sleeping.
The Prophet ﷺ said: the best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer. The Qur’an calls it an additional act by which Allah may raise the servant to a praiseworthy station.
Remain in your prayer place after Fajr remembering Allah until the sun rises, then pray two rakʿah.
A narration reports the Prophet ﷺ saying that this is for him like the reward of a complete Hajj and ʿUmrah — and he repeated: complete, complete, complete.
Recite Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:255 at the end of each fard prayer.
A narration states: whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī after every obligatory prayer, nothing prevents him from entering Paradise except that he dies.
The four short verses declaring Allah’s absolute oneness.
The Prophet ﷺ said: it is equal to a third of the Qur’an.
Recite 2:285–286 at night.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever recites the last two verses of Sūrat al-Baqarah at night, they will suffice him.
A sūrah of thirty verses, recited at night.
A narration mentions a sūrah of thirty verses that interceded for a man until he was forgiven.
Read a fixed portion each day, even a few verses.
A narration states that whoever reads a letter of the Book of Allah has a good deed for it, and the good deed is multiplied tenfold — “alif lām mīm” being counted as three letters, not one.
Study the Book with a teacher, then teach it to another.
The Prophet ﷺ said: the best of you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.
Recite Sūrat al-Kahf on the day of Jumuʿah.
A narration states: whoever recites Sūrat al-Kahf on the day of Jumuʿah, a light shines for him between the two Fridays.
SubḥānAllāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh and Allāhu akbar thirty-three times each, completing the hundred with the tahlīl.
The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever says this after every prayer, his sins are forgiven even if they were like the foam of the sea.
Say it a hundred times in the day.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever says “subḥānAllāhi wa biḥamdih” a hundred times in a day, his sins are wiped away even if they were like the foam of the sea.
“Lā ilāha illa-llāhu waḥdahu lā sharīka lah, lahu-l-mulku wa lahu-l-ḥamd, wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr” — a hundred times in a day.
The Prophet ﷺ said this is for him equal to freeing ten slaves, a hundred good deeds are written for him, a hundred bad deeds are erased, and it is a protection for him from Shayṭān that day until evening.
“SubḥānAllāhi wa biḥamdih, subḥānAllāhi-l-ʿaẓīm.”
The Prophet ﷺ said: two words light on the tongue, heavy on the Scale, beloved to the Most Merciful.
A short phrase acknowledging that all ability comes from Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ said to Abū Mūsā: shall I not tell you of a treasure from the treasures of Paradise? “Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh.”
Send blessings upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — the Qur’an itself commands it.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever sends one salah upon me, Allah sends ten upon him.
Seek Allah’s forgiveness often through the day.
The Prophet ﷺ said that he himself sought Allah’s forgiveness more than seventy times a day. Nūḥ (ʿalayhi as-salām) called his people to seek forgiveness, and the Qur’an relates his words about rain, wealth, children and gardens.
The chief formula of seeking forgiveness, said morning and evening with conviction.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever says it during the day with firm belief in it and dies that day before evening, he is among the people of Paradise; and likewise whoever says it at night with conviction and dies before morning.
Give from your wealth for Allah’s sake.
The Qur’an likens those who spend in Allah’s way to a grain that grows seven ears, in each ear a hundred grains — and says Allah multiplies for whom He wills.
Give so quietly that your left hand does not know what your right hand gave.
The Prophet ﷺ named among the seven whom Allah shades on a day of no shade but His: a man who gives in charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand spends. The Qur’an says concealing charity and giving it to the poor is better for you.
Give away something you would rather keep.
The Qur’an says: you will never attain righteousness until you spend from that which you love.
Take responsibility for an orphan’s food, shelter or schooling.
The Prophet ﷺ said: I and the one who sponsors an orphan will be in Paradise like this — and he joined his index and middle fingers.
Carry the needs of a widow or a person in poverty.
The Prophet ﷺ said: the one who strives for the widow and the poor is like the one who strives in the way of Allah — and like the one who stands the night in prayer and fasts by day.
Feed the poor, the orphan and the captive — seeking nothing in return from them.
The Qur’an describes the righteous as saying: we feed you only for the countenance of Allah; we wish from you neither reward nor thanks.
Provide iftar for someone who is fasting.
A narration states: whoever gives iftar to a fasting person has the like of his reward, without that decreasing anything from the reward of the fasting person.
Fast Ramaḍān, then six days of Shawwāl.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever fasts Ramaḍān and follows it with six from Shawwāl, it is as though he fasted the whole year.
Fast the 9th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah (for those not performing Hajj).
The Prophet ﷺ said, when asked about fasting the day of ʿArafah, that he hopes from Allah that it expiates the year before it and the year after it.
Fast the 10th of Muḥarram.
The Prophet ﷺ said, when asked about fasting the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, that he hopes from Allah that it expiates the year that came before it.
Seek the night in the last ten of Ramaḍān and spend it in prayer.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever stands (in prayer) on Laylat al-Qadr out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins are forgiven. The Qur’an says it is better than a thousand months.
Perform ʿUmrah during the month of Ramaḍān.
The Prophet ﷺ said: ʿUmrah in Ramaḍān is equivalent to Hajj — in another wording, to a Hajj with me.
Perform the Hajj free of sin and showing-off.
The Prophet ﷺ said: an accepted Hajj has no reward but Paradise.
Fast the 13th, 14th and 15th of each lunar month.
A narration reports that fasting three days of each month is like fasting all the time, since a good deed is repaid tenfold.
Reach the relatives who have cut you off, not only those who keep in touch.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever would love that his provision be expanded and his life-span extended, let him keep the ties of kinship.
Serve, obey (in what is lawful), speak gently to and supplicate for your parents.
Asked which deed is most beloved to Allah, the Prophet ﷺ said: prayer at its proper time; then he said: kindness to parents; then: jihād in the way of Allah. The Qur’an joins the command to worship Allah alone with kindness to parents.
Gentleness, honesty, forbearance and good dealing with people.
A narration states: nothing is placed on the Scale heavier than good character.
Hold back when angry, and forgive when you are able to retaliate.
The Prophet ﷺ said: the strong one is not the good wrestler; the strong one is he who controls himself at the moment of anger. The Qur’an praises those who restrain anger and pardon people, and says the reward of one who pardons and reconciles is upon Allah.
Repair a broken relationship between two Muslims.
The Qur’an says there is no good in much of their private talk except one who enjoins charity, or what is right, or reconciliation between people — and whoever does that seeking Allah’s pleasure, He will give him a great reward.
Sit with someone who is ill and make duʿāʾ for them.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever visits a sick person remains in the khurfah of Paradise — the harvest-garden — until he returns.
Follow the janāzah, pray over the deceased, and stay until burial.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever attends the funeral until the prayer is offered has one qīrāṭ, and whoever attends until the burial has two qīrāṭ — and he said a qīrāṭ is like two great mountains.
Pray for someone without their knowing.
The Prophet ﷺ said: when a Muslim supplicates for his brother in his absence, an appointed angel says: āmīn, and for you the like of it.
Clear a stone, a thorn, or broken glass from a path people use.
The Prophet ﷺ counted removing a harmful thing from the road as a branch of faith, and elsewhere as a charity.
Restrain what you say and guard yourself from the unlawful.
The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever guarantees me what is between his jaws and what is between his legs, I guarantee him Paradise.
Befriend and meet people for Allah, not for gain.
The Prophet ﷺ named among the seven whom Allah shades on a day of no shade but His: two men who love one another for Allah’s sake, meeting for that and parting upon it.
Hold firm at the first shock of a trial, without complaint against Allah.
The Qur’an says: only the patient will be given their reward without measure.
Sahih al-Bukhari & Sahih Muslim are sahih by consensus; other collections carry a grade only where it is well known. We do not grade narrations ourselves. For a practical question, consult a qualified scholar.
