Why our prayers are not answered

Why our prayers are not answered

It is reported that Ibrahim ibn Adham {May Allah have mercy upon him} once passed through the market of Basrah. People gathered around him and asked:

O Abu Ishaq, Allah 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. 

He replied, “O people of Basrah, Iraq; your hearts have died in respect to ten things.

1} First, you know Allah but you do not give Him His rights

2} Second, you have read the Book of Allah, but you do not act by it

3} Third, you claim to love the Messenger of Allah {Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him} yet you abandon his Sunnah.

4} Fourth, you claim to be enemies to Shaytan, but you conform to his ways.

5} Fifth, you say you love Paradise, yet you do not work for it.

6} Sixth, you say you fear The Fire, yet you put yourselves closer to it by sinning.

7} Seventh, you say death is true, but you do not prepare for it

8} Eighth, you busy yourselves with the faults of others and disregard your own.

9} Ninth, you consume the favors of your Lord, but are not grateful for them, and

10} Tenth, you bury your dead, but take no lesson from them.

{Hilyatul' Awliyah ~ The Beauty of the Righteous ~ Volume 8, pgs. 15-16}