Walking to Righteousness

Question :

Please mention proofs in the Book and the Sunnah for the virtue of walking to the prayer, or to any obligatory religious act, like fulfilling the rites of Hajj.

In a Hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, we are informed that every step one takes to perform a good or compulsory deed, Allah deems that step to be a good deed or charity; does this apply to the rites of Hajj?

Answer:

There are some general proofs that mention the merits of walking and hastening to something virtuous. There are also specific texts about walking to certain good deeds. Allâh Almighty says:
"Verily, We give life to the dead, and We record that which they send before (them), and their [tracks], and all things We have recorded with numbers (as a record) in a Clear Book."

This verse is general, and its meaning encompasses walking to the Masjid for prayer, walking to the battleground, seeking knowledge, keeping good ties with relatives, leaving behind beneficial knowledge or righteous children. Allâh Almighty says of those who perform Jihad for His cause:
"It was not becoming of the people of Al-Madinah and the Bedouins of the neighborhood to remain behind Allah's Messenger ﷺ and to prefer their own lives to his life. That is because they suffer neither thirst nor fatigue, nor hunger in the Cause of Allah, nor they take any step to raise the anger of disbelievers nor inflict any injury upon an enemy but is written to their credit as a deed of righteousness. Surely, Allah wastes not the reward of the doers of good."

Because of the remembrance and because of the benefit of listening to the Khutbah, Allâh Almighty says about going to the Friday prayer:
"O you who believe! When the call is proclaimed for the Salah on the day of Friday, come to the remembrance of Allah and leave off business, that is better for you if you did but know!"

The tribe of Banu Salamah wanted to leave their homes and move closer to the Messenger of Allah, an action which he disliked, saying:
"Rather, your tracks will be accounted for."

Mujahid said that the meaning of tracks is the steps they take to walk to the Masjid.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded a narration from Abu Hurairah, saying that the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever goes to the Masjid in the morning or in the evening, Allâh prepares for him an abode in Paradise for each excursion."

In his Sahih, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Hurairah said the Prophet ﷺ said,
"The prayer of a man in congregation is twenty-five times better than his prayer in his own home or in his store. That is because if he performs ablution, and performs it well, goes to the Masjid and leaves home solely for prayer, he will be raised in rank and a sin will be removed from him for each step he took. And when he prays, the angels continually pray for him, as long as he does not leave his place of prayer and as long as he does not pass wind; they say, O Allah, send blessings upon him; O Allah, have mercy upon him. And you are considered as one in prayer as long as you are waiting for the prayer."

In his Sahih, Muslim recorded that the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever takes a path seeking knowledge, by it, Allah makes easy for him a path to Paradise."

It is also confirmed in Sahih Al-Bukhari and that of Muslim, in the narrations about the Farewell Pilgrimage, that the Prophet said to 'Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her:
"Your reward is in proportion to your exertion and your expenditure."

All of the above mentioned proofs show that a doer of good is rewarded both for the deed and for the means used to perform that deed. One's rewards, then, vary according to the effort taken and to the money spent; likewise, rewards also vary based on the sanctity of the place, the level of one's sincerity. In general, then, means take on the rulings of ends, and actions take on the rulings of goals and intentions, principles that apply to good and evil, to punishment and reward.