Universal Spirituality

It is reported that Ibrahim bin Adham (Rah.) once passed through the market of Basrah. People gathered around him and asked, “O Abu Ishaq, Allah (God) the Exalted says in his Book. ‘Call on me, and I will answer your prayers,’ but we have been calling on Him for a long time, and He does not answer our prayers.

Ibrahim replied, “O people of Baṣrah, your hearts have died in respect to ten things:

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

second, you have read Allah’s Book but you do not act by it;

third, you claim to love Allah’s Messenger—Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—yet you abandon his Sunnah;

fourth, you claim to be enemies of Shaytan, 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 favours of your Lord but are not grateful for them;

and tenth, you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.”

– Collected