Who Were Ashaab E Kahaf ?
In order to take something as an allegory we have to have a credible evidence in the primary sources of religion (Quran and sunnah) for it to be so. We can’t just decide by our own will. Once we truly understand and believe that God is all powerful, all capable, who created this entire universe, who gives life and death, then what’s the hurdle in believing that he can make some people sleep for 196 years? Do we not believe that all of us will be brought back to life in the hereafter, after we have been put to sleep (death) for what could even be thousands of years?