Mishkat al-Masabih #2169

Abud Darda’ reported God's messenger as saying, “Would you like me to tell you the best and purest of your deeds in the estimation of your King, those which raise your degrees highest, those which are better for you than spending gold and silver, and are better for you than that you should meet your enemy and cut off one another's head?” On receiving a reply in the affirmative he said, “It is remembering God.” Malik, Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it, but Malik traced it no farther back than Abud Darda’.