A Lesson

Ibrahim Ibn Adham (may Allah SWT have mercy on him) was a third century scholar, a teacher and a companion of Sufyaan ath-Thawree. He once passed through the market of Basrah in Iraq which at the time was a great centre for Islamic knowledge and learning. The city was famous for scholarship, for great saints and people of Allah SWT. It was a place of immense abundance from Allah SWT.

He passed through the market of Basrah. People gathered around him and asked: O Abû Ishâq, (father of ishaq) we have a question for you. Allah SWT says in the Quran, “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.

This was a sign of the peoples ignorance, as you’re not allowed to say such things. The Prophet SAW prohibited this. Allah SWT does things in His Own way. There is duas He will defer because He loves people to ask of Him.

Ibrahim Ibn Adham replied to the people, “Its because your hearts are dead.” In order to call on Allah SWT you have to be alive. The dead don’t call. He went on and said your hearts are dead because of ten things:

1.) “You know Allah SWT, yet you do not obey Him”

2.) “You recite the Quran, yet do not act according to it”

3.) “You know Shaitaan (Devil), yet you have agreed with him”

4.) “You proclaim that you love the Messenger of Allah SAW, yet you abandon his Sunnah”

5.) “You proclaim your love for Paradise, yet you do not act to gain it”

6.) “You proclaim your fear for the Fire, yet you do not prevent yourselves from sins”

7.) “You say “Indeed death is true”, yet you have not prepared for it”

8.)”You engage yourselves with finding faults with others, yet you do not look at your faults”

9.) “You eat of that which Allah SWT has provided for you, yet you do not thank Him”

10.) “You bury your dead, yet you do not take a lesson from it.”