Allah, the All-Hearing

Allah, the All-Hearing

All praises are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. All praises are for Allah, the All-seeing, the Accepter of repentance, the Judge, the Bestower. I bear witness that there’s no god worthy of worship but Allah, the One having no partner, the All-Hearing, the All-Aware, the Firm, the Competent. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, his family and companions in multitude of the drops of dew and the number of mornings and evenings.

To proceed: I advise you and myself of having the fear of Allah, as we’re in a time of realising it. Indeed, we’ve been created for the worship of Allah, the Glorious. Our age and life is nothing but a total of hours and moments. (And fear Allah." Indeed, Allah is swift in account.) [Al-Maaidah: 4].

The servants of the Most Merciful: worship has many graded, the highest of which is: “Al-Ihsaan” (sincerity in worship), i.e., that you worship Allah as if you see Him. This grade is a way of the pleasure of Allah, the paradise, the bounties of the grave and the safety from the wrath and punishment of Allah. Among the things which help in progress in the grade of sincerity in worship is filling the heart with the meanings of the Most Beautiful Name of Allah and feeling them. Today we’ll talk about one of the Most Beautiful Names whose feeling fills the heart with love for Allah and whose remembrance inspires a believer due to a plenty of remembrance of his Lord! Every good word and its feeling prevents the tongue from slandering, backbiting, cursing, mockery, falsehood and vulgarity. The sins of the tongue are so severe that according to a hadith, “Are people thrown onto their faces in Hell for anything other than the harvest of their tongues?!”

We’ll talk today about the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” (the All-Hearing). This Name has appeared time and again in the Quran at forty-five places! Khaulah Bint Tha’labah (May Allah be pleased with her) came to the prophet (PBUH) asking him about her husband Aws Bin Al-Saamit, who was her uncle’s son and had said to her in anger: you’re on me like the back of my mother! - ‘Zihaar’ (saying to wife: you’re on me like the back of my mother) was found among them in the period of ignorance – so, she came asking the prophet (PBUH) concerning the matter that her husband wanted to do intercourse with her. She complains of the condition and her suffering with him. So, the beginning part of ‘Surah Al-Mujaadalah’ was revealed. It was narrated that 'Aishah said: "Praise is to Allah Whose hearing encompasses all voices. The woman who disputed concerning her husband (Al-Mujadilah) came to the Prophet when I was (sitting) in a corner of the house, and she complained about her husband, but I did not hear what she said. The Allah revealed: 'Indeed Allah has heard the statement of her that disputes with you concerning her husband. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing. Al-Mujaadalah:1}'" (This hadith has been transmitted by Ahmad, Nasai, Ibn Majah and Bukhari from Aisha [May Allah be pleased with her]).

Glorious is Allah, the All-Hearing who hears all voices despite differences in languages and needs. For Him, all words, secret or open, are equal. (It is the same [to Him] concerning you whether one conceals [his] speech or publicizes it and whether one is hidden by night or conspicuous [among others] by day.) [Al-Ra’d: 10].

Glorious is Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing who’s never distracted by a hearing from another one not by a voice from another one. Rather, even if all mankind and jinn from their first to their last stand in a single ground and all of them ask Allah at one moment, present their need and speak in their language and tone, He’ll comprehend them all by His Hearing and a voice with another voice, a language with another language or a need with another need will not intermix. According to a ‘qudsi’ hadith: “O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more that a needle decreases the sea if put into it.” (Transmitted by Muslim).

Glorious is Allah, the All-Hearing who Hears and Knows what’s hidden inside the chests!

Glorious is Allah, the All-Hearing who refuted the assumption of the polytheists that Allah does not know the secrets and private conversations! Allah, the Glorious said: (Or do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private conversations? Yes, [We do], and Our messengers [i.e., angels] are with them recording.) [Al-Zukhruf: 80].

Brothers in belief: the hearing attributed Allah, the Exalted is of two types: First: hearing that’s related to the heard things which has been mentioned above. In this case, the meaning will be: comprehending the voice. The second type: hearing in the sense of responding, i.e., Allah responds to the one who calls him. This verse is related to the same: (At that, Zechariah called upon his Lord, saying, "My Lord, grant me from Yourself a good offspring. Indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication.") [Aal-Imran: 38]. Allah said quoting Ibrahim (PBUH): (Praise to Allah, who has granted to me in old age Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication.) [Ibrahim: 39]. The utterance of the performer of the prayer “Allah listened to the one who praised him” is of the same type.

According to a hadith in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Ibn Mas'ud reported that there gathered near the House three persons amongst whom two were Quraishi and one was a Thaqafi or two were Thaqafis and one was a Quraishi. They lacked understanding but wore more flesh. One of them said:Do you think that Allah hears as we speak? The other one said: He does hear when we speak loudly and He does not hear when we speak in undertones, and still the other one said: If He listens when we speak loudly, He also listens when we speak in undertones. It was on this occasion that this verse was revealed:"You did not conceal yourselves lest your ears, your eyes and your skins would stand witness against you but you assumed that Allah does not know much of what you do." (Fussilat: 22). This blessed context implies that corruption of belief in the attributes of the Lord and His Names will bring forth loss and destruction. That’s why Allah, the Glorious said in the two verses following this: (And that was your assumption which you assumed about your Lord. It has brought you to ruin, and you have become among the losers." So [even] if they are patient, the Fire is a residence for them; and if they ask to appease [Allah], they will not be of those who are allowed to appease.) [Fussilat: 23, 24].

May Allah bless me and you…

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All praises are for Allah, the Most High, the Grand, the Knower, the Aware. I bear witness that there’s no god worthy of worship but Allah, the One having no partner. (There is nothing like unto Him,and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.) [Al-Shooraa: 11]. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, the giver of glad tidings and warner. May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, his family and companions. To proceed:

It’s not hidden from anyone that Allah has the faculty of Hearing which is suitable to His greatness and magnificence. We affirm it for Allah, the Glorious without distorting its meaning, without likening Him to His creature and without attributing shape to His form or existence, as Allah, the Exalted said about His High Existence: (There is nothing like unto Him,and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.) [Al-Shooraa: 11].

The servants of the Most Merciful: believing in the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” (The All-Hearing) and feeling it has many effects on a believer: Among them is:

♦ Glorification of Allah, His Oneness, His honour and His love. Praises are for our Creator Lord, the Competent, the Hearing, the Seeing, the Knowing, the Aware that we’re Muslims who worship Him alone without any partner, whereas a huge number of human beings worships idols. ("O my father, why do you worship that which does not hear and does not see and will not benefit you at all?) [Maryam: 42].

♦ Among the effects of belief in the great Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” is: love for Allah and relishing His remembrance, rather increasing it. Move your lips while you’re in a vehicle, home, market, farm, etc. and remember Allah by glorifying Him, praising Him, saying ‘Allah is Great’, exclaiming ‘Laa Ilaaha Illallah’, saying ‘Laa Haula walaa Quwwah’, sending blessing and peace on His prophet and by seeking the forgiveness of Allah.

♦ One of the effects of filling the heart with the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” and recollecting it is: reining in the tongue from sins; from backbiting, cursing, vulgarity, etc., as Allah, the Glorious hears your words! We ask Allah for the perfection in belief and protection from sins!

♦ One of the effects of belief in the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” is: prayer of the night and reciting the Quran in a measured way. Ponder on the words of Allah, the Exalted: (And rely upon the Exalted in Might, the Merciful, Who sees you when you arise, And your movement among those who prostrate. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.) [Al-Shu’araa: 217-220].

♦ One of the effects of the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” is: feeling shy from Allah to utter vulgarity and disobedience.

♦ Among the effects of belief in this Noble Name is: truthfulness while talking and abstaining from falsehood!

♦ Among the effects of belief in the Name of Allah “Al-Sami’” and recollecting it: lowering the voice at the time of supplicating and increase in belief. This is Zakriya who called His Lord in a low voice after he had grown old. So, he was given the glad tiding of Yahya. This is Khalil who was not given children but at his old age. And Allah save Yusuf from the tricks of the women when he called him: (So his Lord responded to him and averted from him their plan. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.) [Yusuf: 34].

Then, send out blessings and peace…