Book Name:The Joy of Worship
a person keeps the bounties of Allāh Almighty in mind, he remains thankful. This thankfulness results in an increase of bounty. Further, when a person worships whilst fearing Allāh Almighty, reward is made wājib upon him.
The worldly reward of worship is a person experiencing sweetness and joy as he performs it. When a person completes his worship sincerely, Allāh accepts his deeds. A sign of this acceptance is a person being given the ability to perform more and even better good deeds.[1]
A hard heart - an obstacle to finding joy in worship
O devotees of the Messenger! One foundational reason we cannot find joy in our worship is having a hard heart. If our hearts were instead soft, then finding joy in worship will happen automatically ان شآء اللہ. Anyone who wants to feel the effects of worshipping Allāh in their hearts, anyone who wants to incline towards worship and find joy in it, should strive to soften their heart.
Try to carry out deeds which soften your heart, as anything that softens the heart contains blessings which lead a person to experiencing joy in his worship. On the other hand, anything that hardens one’s heart deprives a person of this.
For example, if someone’s heart is hard due to sin, the blessings of tawbah will cause his heart to soften. It is extremely unlikely for someone drenched in sin to also find joy in worship. Sayyidunā Wuhayb b. Ward رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was once asked, “Does a person who disobeys Allāh Almighty not find joy in their worship?”, to which he replied, “Indeed,