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As Allah Almighty wants you to know that He rose over the Throne, He also wants you to know that He always hears and sees you. He hears your words and sees your actions. Nothing is hidden from Him. Indeed, He hears your private talk to Him. Even your innermost thoughts and feelings are known to Him. He hears your supplication, grants your request, and accepts your repentance.
Are you squeezed by pains? Does your suffering soul yearn for its Creator? Allah Almighty hears your groaning and He is closer to you than your jugular vein. He responds to you and removes your grief and distress, for He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
Praising Himself, Allah Almighty says: {...And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.} [Surat al-Baqarah: 137] Allah’s name “As-Samī‘” occurs 45 times in the noble Qur’an.
Allah Almighty encompasses in His hearing all things that are to be heard. All voices and sounds, open and secret, in the entire universe are heard by Him, as if they were just one voice to Him. To Him, voices and sounds are not mixed and all languages are known. All voices and sounds, distant and near, open and concealed, are the same to Him. In the Qur’an, He says: {It is the same [to Him] whether any of you conceals his speech or declares it openly, whether one is hidden by night or goes forth freely by day.} [Surat ar-Ra‘d: 10]
The fact that created beings also have a sense of hearing does not mean that their hearing is similar to His - far Exalted be He above that! Indeed, the attributes of created beings befit their weakness, inability, and nature; whereas the attributes of the Creator befit His perfection and majesty, Exalted be He. {...There is nothing like unto Him: He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.} [Surat ash-Shūra: 11]
Hearing here means hearing and encompassing. {Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah. And Allah hears your dialog; indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.} [Surat al-Mujādilah: 1] Hearing also has the meaning of response and acceptance: {...Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication.} [Surat Ibrāhim: 39]
He is the All-Hearing; He sees and hears all that is
in the universe, open and secret.
All voices and sounds are heard by Him,
and the open and the concealed being the same to Him.
His hearing encompasses all sounds,
distant and near, and nothing is hidden from Him.
The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) once heard the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) supplicate Allah with loud voices. Thereupon, he said: “O people, do not trouble yourselves too much. He Whom you are invoking is not deaf or absent, but you are invoking an All-Hearing and All-Seeing (Lord).” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim] As soon as a person finishes his invocation and private talk with his Lord, he finds the response there, looming. This is because He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
He hears the calls of the desperate and the supplications of the needy and helps those in severe distress. He hears the praise of those who praise Him, and even the creeping of a black ant on a solid rock during a dark night is heard by Him. He hears our innermost thoughts, feelings, and obsessions.
A woman came to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) arguing about her husband. This was Khawlah (may Allah be pleased with her). ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who was on the other side of the house, said she could hear some words but miss others. After this argument, Gabriel (peace be upon him) descended to Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) with this verse: {Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah. And Allah hears your dialog; indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.} [Surat al-Mujādilah: 1] What an amazing nearness, great knowledge, and encompassing hearing!
When Allah hears His close servants, this means He responds to them and protects and guides them. It is a hearing that calms their fearful hearts, like what happened with Moses (peace be upon him) when he said he was afraid of going to Pharaoh. Thereupon, Allah said: {...Fear not. Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see.} [Surat Taha: 46]
Allah was their Protector and He was Sufficient for them, how excellent He is as a Sufficient Protector!
If you are surrounded by fears and grave matters, implore your Lord by this great name, as the prophets (peace be upon them) used to do. Indeed, He hears the supplication, responds to those in distress, and removes harm. So, do not present your grief and distress to anyone else. Rather, fall in prostration before Allah Almighty, stand at His door, and talk and weep to Him, and then expect relief.
Zachariah (peace be upon him) called out his Lord secretly, so He gave him what his heart desired: {When he called to his Lord a private supplication.} [Surat Maryam: 3] And after he supplicated Allah by His name the All-Hearing, He gave him a righteous offspring: {...My Lord, grant me from Yourself a good offspring. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing of supplication.} [Surat Ᾱl-‘Imrān: 38]
Likewise, Ibrahīm (Abraham) (peace be upon him) implored Allah by this name to accept his deed, after he and his son Isma‘īl (Ishmael) finished the construction of the Ka‘bah: {...Our Lord, accept from us. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.} [Surat al-Baqarah: 127]
Using this name, Abraham (peace be upon him) gave thanks to Allah for answering his supplication: {Praise to Allah, Who has granted me in old age Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed, my Lord is the All-Hearing of supplication.} [Surat Ibrahīm: 39]
Also by this name, the wife of ‘Imrān sought closeness to her Lord and asked Him to accept her deed as she dedicated what was in her womb in a vow: {When the wife of ‘Imrān said: “My Lord, indeed I have pledged to You what is in my womb, consecrated [for Your service], so accept this from me. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”} [Surat Ᾱl-‘Imrān: 35]
As Joseph (peace be upon him) experienced tough circumstances and evil plots, he supplicated his Lord saying: {...My Lord, prison is more liking to me than that to which they are inviting me. And if You do not avert from me their plot, I might incline toward them and [thus] be of the ignorant. So his Lord responded to him and averted from him their plan. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.} [Surat Yūsuf: 33-34]
And as Yūnus (Jonah) (peace be upon him) was in the belly of the whale, he called out: {...There is no god except You; Glorified are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.} [Surat al-Anbiyā’: 87] His feeble voice that came out of three types of darkness pierced the heaven, and behold! The All-Hearing, the All-Knowing saved him from the distress: {So We responded to him and saved him from the distress...} [Surat al-Anbiyā’: 88]
Allah Almighty afflicts His servants to hear their complaints and earnest imploring and supplication. He says: {He said: “I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah...} [Surat Yūsuf: 86]
The devils among the jinn and humans surround you and begin to whisper to you and overcome you and so you feel sad and distressed. That is why your Lord commands you to seek refuge with Him using these two names: the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. {And if an evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.} [Surat al-A‘rāf: 200]
Two men from Quraysh and one from Thaqīf - or two from Thaqīf and one from Quraysh - gathered at the Ka‘bah and reviled the Companions as men with fatty bellies and poor minds. Thereupon, one of them said: “Do you think that Allah hears what we say?”
Another said: “He hears when we speak aloud and does not hear when we speak secretly.”
The other said: “If He hears when we speak aloud, then He hears when we speak secretly.” Thereupon, Allah Almighty revealed: {You did not bother to hide yourselves [when committing sins] from your hearing, your sight, and your skins lest they testify against you; rather you thought that Allah does not know much of what you do. And that was your assumption which you assumed about your Lord. It has brought you to ruin, and you have become among the losers.} [Surat Fussilat: 22-23]
Our Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek refuge with Allah using these two names: the All-Hearing and the All-Knowing, when he got up for prayer during the night. He would say: “A‘ūdhu billāh As-Samī‘ Al-‘Alīm min ash-shaytān ar-rajīm, min hamzih wa nafkhih wa nafthih (I seek refuge with Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from the accursed devil, from his whispering, arrogance, and his poetry).” [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd; Sahīh (authentic)]
He also used to seek refuge with Allah from any harm that could afflict him using these two names: the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. He said: “Whoever says: ‘Bismillāhi al-ladhi la yadurru ma‘a ismihi shay’un fi al-ardi wa la fi as-samā’ wa huwa As-Samī‘ Al-‘Alīm (in the name of Allah with Whose name nothing in the earth or the heaven can cause harm, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing)’ three times in the evening will not be hit by a sudden affliction till the morning, and whoever says it three times in the morning will not be hit by a sudden affliction till the evening.” [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd; Sahīh (authentic)]
If you bear this name “As-Samī‘” in your mind and heart, you will constantly feel close to Him, Exalted be He.
O Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, make us among those who supplicate You and You answer their supplication and those who implore You and You show mercy to them.