In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Allah says in the Holy Quran: Call upon Me, and I will answer your prayers. Why then are some of our prayers not answered?

Ibrahim Ad’ham who was once the ruler of Khurasan was asked this question and responded with: “Because of ten things your hearts are dead; if a person has these ten bad qualities in him, how should God accept his prayer?’

The ten qualities are:

1. You acknowledge Allah, you pretend to acknowledge Him, and yet you do not give His due
2. You read the Quran, yet you do not observe it’s commands and prohibitions
3. Although you say that Satan is your enemy, you follow and obey him
4. You call yourselves members of the Ummah of Muhammad (S.A.W), yet you do not follow his examples
5. You claim that you will go to paradise, yet you do none of the deeds required to gain entrance therein
6. You wish to achieve salvation from the Fire of Hell, yet you throw yourselves into it by committing sin
7. You know that death is inevitable, yet you make no preparation for it
8. You pay a lot of attention to the faults of others, yet you do not see your own faults
9. You consume the bounty of your Lord without showing gratitude
10. You bury your dead without taking warning