(157) It is related
by Abu Hurairah that the Apostle of God said: “The world is the
prison-house of the Believer and Paradise, of the Infidel.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-One of the main feature of a prisoner’s life is that
he is not free in whatever he does. He has to carry out other people’s
commands in all matters. Her eats and drinks what is given to him and
when it is given, and sits or stands where he is told to do so. He has
no will of his own. Another characteristic of it is that the prisoner
does not feel attached to the prison and never considers it his home.
He is always eager to get out of it. On the contrary, no restrictions
will be placed on the dwellers of Heaven. Everyone will be free to do
as he pleases and all his wishes will be fulfilled. Besides, even after
spending thousands of years in Paradise no dweller will get tired of
living in it or weary of its comforts. He will never want to leave it.
Says the Quran:
And therein is all that souls desire and eyes find sweet. And ye are
immortal therein.
(xliii
: 71)
Wherein they will abide, with no desire to be removed from thence.
(xix:109)
Hence, in our humble opinion the chief moral the above Tradition contains
for the Believers is that they should lead a life of checks and restraints
in the world, as one does in the prison, and remember always that to
regard it their paradise and to get attached to it and make its joys
and comforts the ambition’s end is the way of the Infidels.
If a person’s attitude towards the world is akin to that of a
prisoner towards the prison-house, he is a truthful Believer, and if
he becomes so deeply involved in it as to make it the be-all and end-all
of his existence, he is an Infidel, according to the maxim laid down
in this Tradition.