of jurists from our school and others. The correct position is to affirm both considerations, as indicated by the explicit statements of the imams, the words of the early generations, and the majority of scholars from our school and others.

As for a deed’s being arduous, this is not what gives it merit or makes it superior. A meritorious deed may, however, be arduous; its merit then derives from something other than its hardship. Persevering in it despite the hardship increases its reward and recompense. Thus, reward increases with hardship, just as someone who travels farther to the Sacred House for Hajj or ‘umrah receives a greater reward than someone nearby. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to ‘Ā’ishah concerning ‘umrah:

“Your reward is proportionate to your exertion.”

This is because the reward is proportionate to the effort involved in covering the distance: the greater the distance, the greater the exertion, and thus the greater the reward. The same applies to jihad, and to his saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“The one proficient in the Quran is with the noble, righteous scribes, while the one who recites it, stumbling over it and finding it difficult, has two rewards.”

Reward therefore often increases in proportion to hardship and fatigue—not because fatigue and hardship are themselves the purpose of the deed, but because the deed necessarily entails them. This applies to our revealed law, in which burdens and shackles have been lifted from us, no hardship has been imposed upon us, and no difficulty is intended for us. Under the revealed laws of those before us, however, hardship may have been required of them.

Many worshippers regard hardship, pain, and fatigue in themselves as things sought for their own sake and as means of drawing closer to Allah, because they cause the soul to turn away from pleasures and from attachment