I pondered over it for a while, then smiled to the cynical truth of the hadith. I thought, "How many of us are actually living a "prison" life and how many are living a "paradise" life?" But the real meaning of this hadith lies far beyond this superficial interpretation I made. I already wrote a scholar's explanation on this hadith in a previous post, but it was in Malay. So now I'm just writing it again, in English.
Hazrat 'Ali r.a. was teaching this hadith to a group of other companions when a Jew happened to pass by. The Muslims were living a prosperous life at that time. The Jew, on the other hand, was very poor-looking and had patches all over his clothes. Upon hearing the mention of this hadith, the Jew remarked, "That's a lie! You said this world is a prison for the believers and a paradise for the non believers. But look at my condition now and look at yours!" At this 'Ali r.a. replied; A mukmin who had lived all his life as a king, had never felt the slightest hardship and worry, had never suffered a disease, had enjoyed all the luxuries in this world, when he will have entered paradise and Allah will ask him, "Don't you want to go back to that paradise of yours?", he will answer; "Forgive me O Allah. You have granted me everything the heart may desire here, please don't bring me back to that terrible place!" And a non believer who had lived all his life as a beggar in the streets, had never felt the slightest happiness in his life, had suffered all the severest diseases in the world, when he will have entered hellfire he will beg; "O Allah, please bring me back to my Jannah!" (more or less the story)
P/s: The pleasure of paradise and the torment of hellfire are respectively tremendous and severe. All the pleasures in the world put together will not match the pleasure of Jannah, and all the torments in the world put together will not match the torment of Hellfire.
