(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.