It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The five prayers, from one Friday to the next Friday, and from one Ramadan to the next Ramadan, are expiation for the sins committed in between, as long as major sins are avoided.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Prayer is an expiation until the next prayer, Friday is an expiation until the next Friday, and the month of Ramadan is an expiation until the next month, except for three sins. We realized that a new situation had arisen, except associating partners with Allah, breaking a covenant, and abandoning the Sunnah. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Breaking a covenant is that you make a pact with someone, but then you start fighting him with the sword, and abandoning the Sunnah means separating from the congregation.

Abu Uthman says: I was with Sayyiduna Salman al-Farsi (may Allah be pleased with him) under a tree. He took hold of a dry branch of it and shook it until its leaves fell. Then he said: O Abu Uthman! Will you not ask me why I did this? I said: Yes, why did you do this? He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did this with us when I was with him under a tree. He (peace and blessings be upon him) took hold of a dry branch and shook it until its leaves fell. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: Salman! Will you not ask me why I did this? I said: Yes, why did you do this, O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Indeed, when a Muslim performs ablution and performs it well, then offers the five prayers, his sins fall away just as these leaves fall. Allah the Exalted has said: Establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night. Surely good deeds remove evil deeds. That is a reminder for those who take heed. (Surah Hud: 114)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) went out during the winter season when the leaves were falling. He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) held two branches of a tree, and its leaves began to fall. He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "O Abu Dharr!" I said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah! I am present." He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Indeed, when a Muslim servant performs prayer, seeking only the Face of Allah the Exalted, his sins fall away from him just as these leaves are falling from this tree."

Mawla Usman Harith says: One day Sayyiduna Usman (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting, and we also sat around him. When the muezzin came, he asked for water in a vessel; I think it was a mudd of water. Then he performed ablution and said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) perform ablution like my ablution, and he said: Whoever performs ablution like my ablution and then stands and offers the Zuhr prayer, his sins committed between this Zuhr and Fajr will be forgiven. Then when he offers the Asr prayer, the sins between Asr and Zuhr will be forgiven. When he offers the Maghrib prayer, the sins between this prayer and Asr will be forgiven. When he offers the Isha prayer, the sins between Isha and Maghrib will be forgiven. Then it is possible that he spends the night tossing and turning, then when he gets up and performs ablution and offers the Fajr prayer, the sins between this prayer and the Isha prayer will be forgiven. These are the good deeds that erase the bad deeds. The people said: These are the good deeds, what are the remaining things, O Usman!? He said: They are these remembrances: La ilaha illallah, Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.

Humran says: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) used to perform ghusl every day after accepting Islam. One day, I prepared water for him to perform wudu for prayer. When he performed wudu, he said: I intended to narrate to you a hadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), but then I thought that I would not narrate it to you. Hakam bin As said: O Commander of the Faithful! If it contains goodness, we will act upon it, and if it specifies any evil, we will avoid it. Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Alright, I will narrate it to you. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed wudu in this manner and then said: Whoever performs wudu in accordance with this wudu and performs it well, then stands for prayer and completes the bowing and prostration, then this prayer will be an expiation for the sins committed between it and the previous prayer, as long as one avoids the destructive (i.e., major) sins.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever performs ablution completely according to the command of Allah Almighty, then the obligatory prayers become an expiation for the sins committed between them.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What do you think, if there were a flowing river in the courtyard of one of your houses and he bathed in it five times a day, would any dirt remain on him? They said: No, nothing would remain. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Prayer also removes sins in this way, just as water removes dirt.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What do you think, if there were a river at the door of one of you and he bathed in it five times a day, would any dirt remain on him? The people said: Nothing of his dirt would remain. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the example of the five prayers; Allah wipes away sins through them.

It is narrated from ‘Amir bin Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, he says: I heard from Sayyiduna Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with him) and also from some other companions, they used to say: In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), there were two men who were brothers, and one of them was superior to the other, and he passed away. After him, the other brother lived for another forty days and then died. But when the superiority of the one who died first was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) over the other, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Did the second one not offer (forty days of) prayers? The companions said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! There is no objection to that (meaning he was also a good man). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Do you know to what extent those prayers have elevated him? Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The example of prayer is like that of a flowing river, deep enough to drown in, with sweet water, and it is at the door of one of you, and he enters it five times a day (i.e., bathes in it). What do you think, will it leave any dirt or filth on him?