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 b. Adham] 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;
tenth : you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.”
Abû Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ’ 8: 15, 16.
