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.