Bilal · a Light

He heard Bilal's footsteps ahead of him in Paradise

The Prophet ﷺ asked Bilal ibn Rabah to name the deed he most hoped for, because he had heard the sound of his sandals in front of him in Paradise. Bilal said he had done nothing he counted on more than this: that he never performed the ritual washing at any hour of the night or the day without praying with that washing whatever had been written for him to pray. It is not an impressive answer. No fasting record, no battle, no charity. An Abyssinian former slave who had been dragged over hot stones in Makkah for refusing to recant named a small private habit kept at odd hours, and that is the deed the report preserves.

Abu Hurayra, of Bilal ibn Rabah · Madinah

Source · Bukhari 1149, Muslim 2458