The Worldly Life Is A Prison For The Believer

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:

“The worldly life is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever”. (1)

Imam An-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy be upon him, said:

Every believer is imprisoned and prevented – in the worldly life – from evil and repugnant desires and obligated to perform demanding acts of obedience. But after death, he relaxes and receives what Allah, The  Most High, promised – permanent bliss and perfect relaxation. As for the disbeliever (in Allah and His Messenger), he gets what he receives in the worldly life together with the fact that it is very little and disrupted by distress. And after he dies, he finds himself in permanent punishment and eternal wretchedness. (2)

Imam Muhammad Ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

Regardless how great the affair of the worldly life is – its good days and its dwelling places (surrounded by beautiful trees, plants, scenery etc), then indeed it is like a prison for the believer, because a believer looks forward to a bliss that is better, more perfect and loftier. As for the disbeliever (in Allah and the Messenger), the worldly life is his paradise because he enjoys himself in it [i.e. outside the boundaries of halal and haram] and forgets the afterlife, thus becomes like those about whom Allah, The Most High, said:

وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يَتَمَتَّعُونَ وَيَأۡكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأۡكُلُ ٱلۡأَنۡعَـٰمُ وَٱلنَّارُ مَثۡوً۬ى لَّهُمۡ

Those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as cattle eat, and the Fire will be their abode. [Muhammad 12]

Therefore, when the disbeliever dies, he does not find anything in front of him except the fire and Allah’s punishment, and woe to the people of the fire. So that which is found in the worldly life of distress, grief, sadness and sorrow is like a paradise in relation to the state of affairs of the disbeliever (in Allah and His Messenger), because he will leave this world to receive Allah’s punishment.

It has been mentioned about Ibn Hajar Al Asqalaani – the author of Fath Al-Baari – that he used to be the chief of the judges in Egypt in his era, and he used go past the market with an entourage. One day a Yahudi stopped him and said, “Your Prophet said, ‘The worldly life is a prison of the believer and paradise of the disbeliever’, and how can this be the case while you are in a state of luxury and joy, and I am in a state of extreme poverty and low status?” Ibn Hajr said to him, “If in your view I am in state of joy and that people are at my service, this state is a prison in comparison to what a believer will receive from bliss in Paradise. As for yourself, even though you are in state of extreme poverty and low status, it is like paradise in comparison to what a disbeliever will receive in the fire”. The Yahudi was amazed by this statement and then testified that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. (3)

[1] Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2956]

[2] Sharh Sahih Muslim 18/74. Daar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah. 1st Edition 1421AH (2000)

[3] https://binothaimeen.net/content/8835