Enjoy Acts of Worship

23-2-2020 | IslamWeb

Question:

Are we actually meant to enjoy our acts of worship? This is a foreign concept to me. How is one meant to enjoy prayer, and wudu?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Acts of worship are the source of comfort for the believer. They are the spiritual joy for his soul and the utter bliss for his heart. However, he does not savor such delight except after a period of struggle, persistent endurance, and adherence to worship until he starts to relish its joy. Thaabit Al-Bunaani, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said: “I struggled for one year to observe the prayers, and then enjoyed it for twenty years, so much so that when I start the prayer, I become grieved that (it will end and) I must leave it!” This man endured the hardship and burden of observing the prayer until he became accustomed to it and found pleasure in performing it. How could a person not feel the pleasure of performing the prayer, or how could he think that there is no pleasure in performing it while he, in prayer, is invoking his Lord, remembering Him, and reciting His Speech (the Quran)? The Prophet said: “…and the coolness of my eyes has been made in performing the prayer (i.e., I find comfort in offering the prayer).”

Whoever performs ritual purification and the prayer in accordance with the prescribed manner and strives to endure the accompanying hardship and trouble, such hardship would turn for him into delight and comfort, and his heart would find tranquility, as Allah, The Almighty, Says (what means): {Those who have believed and their hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured."} [Quran 13: 28] The same is true of all the other acts of worship.

Allah knows best.