Nasai

(1) “The religion is easy”—that is, the rulings which Allah, the Exalted, has legislated are not beyond human capacity. It is easy to act upon them, because Allah does not burden beyond capacity. This does not mean that any act which appears difficult cannot be part of the religion, because for a person with ill intent, every act of religion seems difficult.

(2) “Will make it hard”—that is, whoever introduces strict rulings into the religion from himself, or is excessive (ghuluww), then a time will come when he will not be able to fulfill the very severity he himself created. His excessiveness will become a collar around his own neck.

(3) “Moderation”—this refers to voluntary acts (nawafil), otherwise the performance of obligatory acts (fara’id) is always necessary. One should only take on as many voluntary acts as can be performed easily and consistently.

(4) “Be cheerful”—that is, have certainty in Allah’s reward and mercy, and remain hopeful.

(5) “A little journey”—action has been likened to a journey. If a journey is undertaken in a proper manner, both the traveler and the mount remain at ease, and the journey passes well. But if the journey is continued without pause and the mount is exhausted, the journey is cut short and the traveler falls ill. Similarly, one should only take on as much action as can be performed with ease, so that other obligations can also be fulfilled and the body does not become weak. In Arab society, these three times were best for travel; the remaining times were for rest and eating and drinking.