(196) Narrates Omar that [once “I went to the Prophet and saw that he was lying on a mat made of the leaves of the date-palm, and there was no bedding between him and the mat, and the texture of the mat had left deep marks on his body, and under his head was placed a leather pillow stuffed with the bark of the date-tree. On seeing it, I said, ‘My Master ! Pray to God to grant prosperity to your followers. He has bestowed riches upon the people of Rome and Persia even though they are not Believers.” The Prophet replied, ‘O son of Khattab ! Do you also think like that? They are the people [who have been deprived of the blessings of the Hereafter owing to their heathenish and ungodly ways], and, hence, the comforts [God wanted to confer upon them] have been granted to them in this world.' ‘[In another version of the same Tradition it is said that the Prophet replied, “O Omar ! Do you not prefer that they took the joys of this world and we of the Hereafter]?”
-Bukhari and Muslim
Commentary.-It hurt Hazrat Omar to see the Prophet spending his days in conditions of suffering and poverty, and he, naturally, wished that God granted him prosperity so that he did not have to bear all that hardship. But since Hazrat Omar knew that the Prophet would not pray for wealth and worldly possessions for himself, he requested him to supplicate to God for his followers, and, at the same time, suggested that worldly riches were such an ordinary thing that God had bestowed them even upon Infidels like the Romans and Persians. Why would He, then, not grant them to the Prophet's followers if he prayed? The Prophet expressed surprise at it, and, by way of an admonition, said to Hazrat Omar, “Are you still so ignorant as to talk like that? With the pagans and the unbelievers like Romans and the Persians the matter is that they have no share in the life of the Hereafter which is what really counts. So, the joys and comforts God wanted to bestow upon them have been granted to them in the present existence. To be envious of their material pleasures is, therefore, unworthy of one who has realised the truth. You ought to be eager only for the Hereafter where you have to live forever. This world is but a temporary resting-place. Comfort or discomfort here has no meaning.”