Imaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) stated:
A lover takes pleasure in the service of his beloved and acts
without restrictions in his obedience. Whenever the love becomes stronger, the
pleasure in the obedience and service becomes more complete. So the servant
should weigh his eemaan and love for
Allaah with this scale; he should examine whether he takes pleasure in the
service of his beloved or detests it and discharges it with weariness, boredom
and aversion? This is the yardstick of a person’s eemaan and love for Allaah…
That is why the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
said: “The comfort of my eyes has been
placed in the Prayer.”[1]
Anyone whose comfort of his eyes is placed in a particular thing would wish not
to be alienated from it nor removed from it, for the comfort of the eyes of a
servant is his bliss and good life. One of the pious predecessors said: “I am
elated by the night because my life takes delight in it and comforts my eyes
with it by conversing with the One Whom I love, my seclusion in his service and
tingling with pleasure in front of Him. However, I am saddened by the coming of
the dawn because the day will distract me from that.”
There is nothing more pleasing to a lover than the service of his
beloved and his obedience. One of the scholars said: “I felt pain with the Salaah
for twenty years then I enjoyed it for twenty years.” This pleasure and
enjoyment in service only comes through endurance and toil at first, if a
person is patient on it and he is truthful in his patience, it will lead him to
this pleasure. Aboo Zayd said: “I gave my soul to Allaah while it was weeping. I
did not cease devoting it until it was carried away by Him while it was
laughing.”
Source: Tareeq al-Hijratayn wa Baab as-Sa ‘aadatayn,
p. 697-698 by Imaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
