Why our Du'as are not answered

by ibn Rajab al Hanbali
from Khushu' fis-salah

Ibrahim ibn Adham - may Allah have mercy on him - a third century scholar, a teacher and a companion of Sufyan ath-Thawri, was asked about the saying of Allah - the Most High:

"and your Lord says: "Call on me I will answer your prayer..."
[40:60]

"We supplicate and we are not answered."
So he said to them:

You know Allah, Yet you do not obey Him,

You recite the Qur'an, Yet do not act according to it,

You know Shaitan, Yet you have agreed with him,

You proclaim that you love Muhammad Yet you abandon his Sunnah,

You proclaim your love for Paradise, Yet you do not act to gain it,

You proclaim your fear the Fire, Yet you do not prevent yourselves from sins,

You say "Indeed death is true", Yet you have not prepared for it,

You point out the faults with others, Yet you do not look at your faults,

You eat of that which Allah has provided for you, Yet you do not thank Him,

You bury your dead, Yet you do not take a lesson from it."