[The Reason for People’s Turning Away from Obeying Allah]

Answer: What appears to me in answering that is that Allah, exalted is He, has created human beings upon desires and whims, and obedience to Allah, exalted is He, is built upon leaving desires and whims.
So when Allah, exalted is He, sent the messengers (May Allah bless them all), the kings, the rich, the leaders, and the arrogant disliked to submit and humble themselves to one who was poor and humble, and most people follow the kings and leaders. Allah, exalted is He, said: “And We did not send into a city any warner except that its affluent said, ‘Indeed, we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers.’” [Saba:34]
So it was too great for the affluent to climb down and humble themselves to obey one who, in their eyes, was insignificant. Allah, exalted is He, has related the saying of the polytheists about that: “And they said, ‘Why was this Qur’an not sent down upon a great man from [one of] the two cities?’” [al-Zukhruf:31]
As for the reason for the large number of disobedient Muslims, it is the predominance of desires. Among them is one whom the desire of the private parts fells, among them is one whom the desire of the belly fells, among them is one whom the desire of arrogance storms, and among them is one whom the desire of envy overcomes, and so on.
Yes, the proof of Allah is binding upon everyone and established against them; they have only come (into loss) from their own selves. They are the ones who have brought punishment upon themselves by choosing disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience, after Allah, exalted is He, had provided for them the causes of guidance by what He gave them of the fitrahs of the intellects, by what He spread in the universe of signs and lessons, and by what He sent of messengers and revealed of books. Were it not for arrogance and whims, they would have seen the doors of guidance wide open and its paths paved.
All this is together with what Allah, exalted is He, has embedded in the fitrahs of the intellects: that truthfulness is better than lying, that doing good is better than doing harm, that justice is better than injustice, and that the noble traits of character are better than their vile opposites; and this is what the heavenly religions call to.
So the messengers of Allah and His prophets only command what the intellects are familiar with and recognize, and they forbid what the intellects find repugnant, and they make lawful for them the good things and forbid them the evil things.

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3