Dunyā is the Believer’s Prison

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al- Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says in the holy ḥadīth sharīf, dunyā is the prison of the believer. It is not a place of comfort for the believer. The Hereafter is his comfort. For the unbeliever, dunyā is paradise. The Hereafter is not paradise, as our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said. That is, compared to the Hereafter, as our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said, even the most luxurious life we live here is like living in prison; it is such a worthless place, a place of no value whatsoever. It is a difficult place. When compared to the beauty, comfort, ease, and freedom of Paradise in the Hereafter, even the person in the highest rank here feels like they are living in prison. For the unbeliever, it is the total opposite. This life is their paradise. Because compared to the worst places in the Hereafter, even the unbeliever in the worst situation here feels like they are living in Paradise.

One day, Shaykh Abdul Qādir Al-Jaylāni was walking with his murīds on horseback, with something like a shade umbrella. An unbeliever, probably a zoroastrian, came out and grabbed the reins of the horse. The murīds there wanted to intervene, but as a lesson, Shaykh Abdul Qādir Al-Jaylāni told them not to touch him, to see what he would say. Then he said, “I have a question for you. In this state, hungry, poor, without even shoes or slippers on my feet, you say this is my paradise, while you tell the Muslims that this is your prison. How can I explain this? While I am in this miserable state, you are comfortably riding on the back of a horse. You are surrounded by your loved ones, people are living a beautiful life. You are extraordinarily comfortable. How can this be a prison for you and paradise for me?” Shaykh Abdul Qādir Al-Jaylāni also said, “What you said, because of the rewards and blessings to be given in Paradise, our most comfortable state here is not hell for us, but rather like prison in this world. Prison is a hardship compared to the hereafter, compared to Paradise, this is considered like prison. So, you are in the worst situation. If you don’t believe, you will enter hell, so here will be like the most beautiful Paradise [compared to that.] That is, compared to the inhabitants of hell, your situation is like Paradise.” When he heard this, he thought about it and immediately gravitated to īmān. He was honored with Islām through this. It is said in the āyati karīmah, life is a game and amusement. The hereafter is goodness. ‘ ’, ‘Afa-lā taʿqilūn’, ‘Then will you not use reason?’ (Qur’ān 37:138). Where is your mind? We

gave you mind. Think with your intellect and act accordingly. What do you want? Do you desire the Hereafter? Do you desire the eternal life, the Hereafter, or do you desire the temporary life many people live luxuriously here and then abandon the Hereafter?

We sometimes hear - we read and hear many things. I’ll mention one example here: there’s one musician, perhaps one who plays the violin. They say this man played the violin best ever. And that’s not from now, but three or four hundred years ago. They say he made an agreement with shayṭān that shayṭān would take away his īmān and he would become the best musician, the best violinist in the world. And it happened that way. He played beautifully, everyone listened and enjoyed, but three hundred years have passed, and he regrets what he did, but regret is of no use.

Therefore, even if they gave him the whole world, a believer would not change his religion. He would not stray from the way of ḥaqq (truth). He invites others to the way of ḥaqq. Because it is the way of reason, the way of beauty. It is the way of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. This way is the way of all the Prophets, the beautiful way. It is the way of mind. Those who lack mind are outside of it. They chase after false things. Gold, silver, money—all of these are used like building materials in Paradise. Walls of gold, silver, and jewels beyond measure. Therefore, those who have mind do not look at what is here, but at the Hereafter. May Allāh ﷻ grant us all that beauty, in shā’a Llāh.

Wa min Allāhi t-Tawfīq. Al-Fātiḥa.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 05 June 2026/ 19 Dhul Hijjah 1447 Lefke, Cyprus