Dead Hearts and Empty Supplications

It is reported that Ibrâhîm b. Adham (d162H) – Allâh have mercy on him – once passed through the market of Basrah. People gathered around him and asked:

O Abû Ishâq, Allâh the Exalted says in his Book. ‘Call on me, I will answer your prayers’, but we have been calling on Him for a long time and He does not answer our prayers. [Ibrâhîm] replied, “O people of Basrah, your hearts have died in respect to ten things: First, you know Allâh but you do not give Him His rights; second, you have read Allâh’s Book but you do not act by it; third, you claim to love Allâh’s Messenger – Allâh’s peace and blessings be upon him – yet you abandon his Sunnah; fourth, you claim to be enemies to Shaytân but you conform to [his ways]; fifth, you say you love Paradise yet you do not work for it; sixth, you say you fear The Fire yet you put yourselves closer to it [by sinning]; seventh, you say death is true but you do not prepare for it; eighth, you busy yourselves with the faults of others and disregard your own; ninth, you consume the favors of your Lord but are not grateful for them; and tenth, you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.”

Abû Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ’ 8: 15, 16.

More:

1. Abû Bakr to ‘Umar on his Deathbed
2. Three Laughs and Three Tears
3. No poverty after Paradise and no wealth in the Fire
4. Two Days and Two Nights like no others
5. Hot Fashion
6. At the deathbed of Umm Habibah
7. An advice at death about direction in Life