"I wish I had seen what you have seen and witnessed what you witnessed (i.e. Allah’s Messenger).”

‘Abd ar-Rahman bin Jubayr bin Nufayr related that his father said:

“We were sitting with al-Miqdad bin al-Aswad one day, and a man came by and said: “How fortunate those two eyes of yours are that have seen the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم). I wish I had seen what you have seen and witnessed what you witnessed.”

So, al-Miqdad became angry, and I was surprised! The man only said something good!

He then walked over to the man and said: “What makes this man wish to be where Allah made him absent when he has no idea how he would’ve acted there? By Allah, there were people who saw the Messenger of Allah who will be dragged by Allah on their noses in Hell because they didn’t respond to his call and did not believe in his message. Will you not thank Allah that you were born knowing only your Lord, believing in what your Prophet came with, and have been relieved of trials that others had to go through?””

This was reported by Ahmad (6/2), Ibn Hibban (1684), and al-Albani declared it authentic in ‘Sahih as-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah’ (p. 141).a

Here are a couple of points on this statement: