A special quality of this Love (For Allah ta’ala) is that one desires to sit down in solitude, remembering his Beloved, which brings great ecstasy. For this reason the silence of the desert is so well-sought after by these true lovers. Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلّم used to say: “Before I was endowed with Prophethood, solitude was made beloved to me.” Hence he withdrew himself from all men and looked for the solitude in the Cave of Hira, where for several days on end he spent the time meditating and remembering Allah.
How can ordinary beings understand this love and ecstasy? How can they know the pleasure of solitude and the delights of the howling winds in the desert? Ask those true servants of Allah Taala, whose lives have become independent of the pleasures of this temporary world and are enjoying the closeness of Allah Taala in solitude. The pleasure of this solitude is such, that thousands of gatherings may be sacrificed for it. It is such a meeting of the true beloved that it transforms the solitude of the lover into full spring bloom.
Moulana Muhammad Ahmed Saheb says:
“If You are not with me, then I feel distressed even in a rose garden. If You are with me then I enjoy the taste of a rose garden even in a desert”
From Ma-aarif-e-Mathnavi, a commentary of the Mathnavi by Shaykh Hakeem Akhtar (Raheemahullah)
Fragrance of Musk 