Hazrat Shaikh, Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya Saheb (rahmatullahi alaih) while explaining the reality of this worldly life mentioned:
“This worldly life can be likened to a person who finds himself in an air conditioned room being massaged by many servants while others are at his beck and call anxiously waiting to serve him. Suddenly his eyes open and he realises that what he was visualizing was nothing but a dream and in reality he is in a prison cell stuck behind bars. On the other hand, another person sees himself in a dream while being severely beaten and lashed, undergoing difficulty upon difficulty. When his eyes open, he sees himself safe and sound and realizes that all the pain and suffering was nothing but a dream. He feels relieved and is grateful to Allah Ta’ala that what he was going through was just a dream and not a reality.”
Hazrat Shaikh (rahmatullahi alaih) then mentioned to those present in the gathering: “Respected friends! This world is identical to a dream. When a person opens his eyes (i.e. the eyes of the Hereafter), then only will he realize in which condition he truly is in. In the Hereafter when those that lived a comfortable life in the world will see the immense rewards in store for all those servants of Allah Ta’ala who bore afflictions and underwent difficulties in this world, they will desire that if only their bodies were cut with scissors in the world and they were made to undergo great amount of hardship and difficulty so that they may also be worthy of the great rewards of the Aakhirat.” (Malfoozaate Hazrat Shaikh 1/67)
Source: Ihyaauddeen.co.za