I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "There are forty good deeds, the highest of which is gifting a she-goat for someone to benefit from its milk. No servant," or he said, "no man performs a single one of them, hoping for its reward and believing in what has been promised, except that Allah admits him to Paradise because of it."
حدثنا الوليد حدثنا الأوزاعي حدثني حسان بن عطية حدثنا أبو كبشة السلولي أن
سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول أربعون حسنة أعلاها منحة العنز لا يعمل عبد أو قال رجل بخصلة منها رجاء ثوابها أو تصديق موعودها إلا أدخله الله بها الجنة
Its isnad is sahih. Bukhari related it, 5:180, through Isa bin Yunus, and Abu Dawud related it, 1683 (2:55-56 of Awn al-Mabud), through Israil and through Isa, both of them from Uzai with this same isnad. Hafiz referred to this narration of the Musnad in Fath. See also 4415."Forty good deeds," in K it reads "forty qualities," which matches the two narrations of Bukhari and Abu Dawud, while what appears here matches H and M. Hafiz mentioned that Ahmad's narration has "forty good deeds.""The gift of a she-goat," minhat, with kasra on the meem and sukoon on the nun, while a copy in the margin of M has maniha, with fatha on the meem and kasra on the nun followed by a ya, which matches the two narrations of Bukhari and Abu Dawud. Minha and maniha mean a gift, or a loan, or something lent, and what is meant here is that a person lends his brother a she-goat on loan so he may benefit from its milk and then return it.His words, "or a confirmation," appear in H as "and a confirmation," with a waw, which matches the two narrations of Bukhari and Abu Dawud. And "its promise" means what Allah has promised in it of reward and recompense.Bukhari and Abu Dawud added at the end of the hadith, Hassan said (meaning Ibn Atiya), "So we counted what falls short of the gift of a she-goat, such as returning a greeting, saying a blessing to someone who sneezes, removing something harmful from the road, and the like, but we were unable to reach fifteen qualities."