The ruling on deliberately seeking hardship in acts of worship on the basis of the principle: "The reward is in proportion to the difficulty."

The Shaykh: However, there is a point here that it is good for us to point out; and that is that the statement of the jurists, based on the aforementioned hadith, that the reward is in proportion to the difficulty, should not be understood from this principle or that noble Prophetic hadith to mean that it is permissible for the Muslim to deliberately seek difficulties and hardships in acts of worship; on the claim that the more arduous his worship is, the greater his reward and recompense will be with Allah; for example, instead of performing Hajj by plane, he performs it by car, instead of covering the distance in two hours, he covers it in two days, instead of performing Hajj by car, he performs it on a mount, instead of performing Hajj on a mount, he performs it on foot, and the reward is in proportion to the difficulty; so the response here is: ; for he did not perform Hajj on foot; knowing that he was absolutely the strongest of men, and he was able to perform Hajj on foot, but he performed Hajj on his camel - (peace and blessings be upon him) - .
So here it is not said: it is better for the Muslim to perform Hajj on foot; rather, it is not even better to ride a camel, donkey, or horse, nor is it better - also - to ride in a car if he has the money for a plane, otherwise he descends like this in degrees, ; so the one for whom a plane is made easy, it is better for him to perform Hajj by it, and the one for whom it is not made easy except to perform Hajj on his feet, here it is said: "The reward is in proportion to the difficulty"; because he did not feign or deliberately seek the difficulty, exactly as happened to the lady A'ishah - (may Allah be pleased with her) - .