21 – Ishaq narrated to us; he said: Hajjaj narrated to us, from Mubarak, from al-Hasan, from Anas ibn Malik, who said:

“I entered upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was lying on a cot woven with leather straps, with no cloth between his skin and the straps. Beneath his head was a leather cushion stuffed with palm-fibre. A number of his Companions came in to visit him, and when Umar ibn al-Khattab entered, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ shifted slightly. Umar looked and saw that the straps had left marks on his side, whereupon Umar began to weep.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, ‘What makes you weep, O Umar?’

He replied, ‘By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I weep only because I know that you are more honoured before Allah than both Chosroes and Caesar, yet they enjoy the comforts of this world while you are in the state I see.’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Are you not pleased, O Umar, that for them is the life of this world and for us is the Hereafter?’

‘Indeed, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah,’ Umar answered. ⦗43⦘ He said, ‘That is exactly how it is.’