Question:
May Allah bless you. This listener, your brother in faith Ibrahim, asks about the meaning of the hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “The world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever.” He asks: What is the meaning of this hadith?
Answer:
The meaning of this hadith is that no matter how grand this worldly life becomes, how pleasant its days are, and how splendid its dwellings might be, it remains like a prison for the believer. This is because the believer looks forward to a bliss that is far better, more perfect, and loftier in the Hereafter.
As for the disbeliever, it is their paradise because they enjoy its pleasures, forget the Hereafter, and become just as Allah Almighty described them: “but those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them.” [Muhammad, 47:12]
When a disbeliever dies, they will find nothing ahead of them except the Fire—we seek refuge with Allah from it—and woe to the people of the Fire. Therefore, despite all the distress, hardship, anxiety, and grief it contains, this world is a paradise for the disbeliever because they will transition from it to the punishment of the Fire—we seek refuge with Allah. So, compared to what awaits them, this life is like a paradise.
It was mentioned regarding Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him), the author of Fath al-Bari, who was the Chief Judge of Egypt in his time, that he used to pass through the market in a carriage surrounded by a procession. One day, a Jewish man stopped him and said, “Your Prophet says: ‘The world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever.’ How can that be when you are living in such luxury and honor, while I”—meaning himself, the Jewish man—“am in the utmost state of poverty and humiliation? How can this be?” Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) replied to him, “Even though I am in this state of honor and surrounded by servants, compared to the bliss of Paradise that awaits the believer, this is like a prison. And you, despite the poverty and humiliation you are in, compared to what awaits the disbeliever in the Fire, this is like a paradise.” The Jewish man was amazed by these words and bore witness to the truth, saying, “I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”