Zaydan reported: ‘Utabah al-Ghulam, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “I suffered with prayer for twenty years, then I enjoyed it for twenty years.”
Source: Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 10/10
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim commented, “This pleasure and enjoyment of servitude is only achieved first by being patient with reluctance and fatigue. If one is patient with it and is sincere in his patience, it will eventually result in this pleasure… The seeker remains vulnerable to obstacles, apathy, and regression until he reaches this desirable state. Then, his pleasure is in his journey, his enjoyment is in his effort, but his torment is in his regression and discontinuation.”
Source: Ṭarīq al-Hijratayn 2/699
عَنْ زَيْدَان قَالَ قَالَ عُتْبَةُ الْغُلَامُ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ كَابَدْتُ الصَّلَاةَ عِشْرِينَ سَنَةً وَتَنَعَّمْتُ بِهَا عِشْرِينَ سَنَةً
10/10 حلية الأولياء وطبقات الأصفياء
قَالَ ابْنُ الْقَيِّمِ هذه اللذّة والتنعّم بالخدمة إنَّما تحصل بالمصابرة على التكرّه والتعب أوَّلًا فإذا صبر عليه وصدق في صبره أفضى به إلى هذه اللذّة … ولا يزال السالك عرضةَ الآفات والفتور والانتكاس حتى يصل إلى هذه الحال فحينئذٍ يصير نعيمُه في سيره ولذّتُه في اجتهاده وعذابُه في فتوره ووقوفه
2/699 طريق الهجرتين
