Reminded Yet Heedless...

Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī once saw a man eating in the graveyard & commented:

“This is a hypocrite; he sees death before his eyes, yet his stomach craves for food.”

Tanbihu Al-Ghafilin, vol. 2, p. 617

Transient pleasure of the Dunya

“This world does not really please as much as it hurts; it pleases for a short time, but it leads to longer agonies & wider sadness.”

’Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz [d. 101H/719CE]

Impossibility of Adequate Gratitude

 

 "Oh Allaah, do not demand from us that we thank You adequately for the Blessings You give to us...”

Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal

[Manaqib Al-Imam Ahmad by ibn al-Jawzi, pp. 394-395]

Blessings of the Hearts

     

“For everything there is a blessing; the blessing of the hearts is being pleased with Allaah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful.”

Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal [d. 241AH/855CE]

[Manaqib Al-Imam Ahmad by ibn al-Jawzi, pp. 276]

Slave of Desires

  

“If one attains (what he desires), he is pleased & if he is unable to attain it, he becomes discontented.  Such a person is a slave ['abd] to the things he desires.  He is a slave of it, since true slavery & servitude are the enslavement & servitude of the heart.”

-Ibn Taymiyyah [d. 728H/1328CE]

[Ibn Taymiyyah's Essay on Worship, pp. 100-101]