A king wanted to build a great palace for which he spared no expense and so made available all his treasures. Anything that did not suit his fancy in the slightest he had torn down and built again. Finally he was convinced the palace had no shortcoming and was the greatest palace ever built.
Overflowing with pride at his beautiful palace the king announced throughout his kingdom that he would reward anyone who could point out a flaw in his new abode. All who would visit could not see any shortcoming in the beautiful building, not that anyone would even dare to point it out to their king.
People kept coming and going for the next few days until a venerable sage close to Allah happened to be passing by and stopped by when he heard the king's decree. After surveying the palace he came before the king and said, "Your Majesty, I have found two flaws in your palace." The king was taken aback because an old man apparently found what all his subjects could not, and so he asked what these flaws were. The wise man said, "Your Majesty, one flaw is that this palace will not stand forever, and will end like all things will end one day. The second is that you cannot live in this palace forever for all must die one day."
The World is a Temporary Home
No matter what high hopes a person has in this world, no matter how many beautiful houses and cars he has he will have to leave everything behind one day. The Messenger of Allah said: Be in the world as if you are a stranger
Excerpted from The Sermons by Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi(db)