Allah tells us, “There is nothing like Him: He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (Qur’an 42:11). In other words, right after He teaches us that there is nothing like Him, He affirms His attributes of hearing and seeing—attributes that we ourselves possess. This is deliberate. Of all the names that Allah could have used here, He chose two that we appear to share in common. But in reality, the statement, “There is nothing like Him,” emphasizes that our hearing and seeing cannot be compared to His hearing and seeing.
The great Shāfiʿī scholar, Abū al-Qāsim al-Isfahānī (d. 535 AH), said: “At the onset of creation, man does not hear. When he begins to hear, he does not understand what he hears, and only as he grows is he able to distinguish between good and evil speech. Man’s hearing is limited; beyond that limit, he fails to hear. If a number of people speak to him at one time, he is unable to hear, listen, and respond to them all at the same time. However, Allah is the All-Hearing (
al-Samīʿ) of His creation’s invocation and of their utterances when they call unto Him, individually or all together in their different languages... The hearing of the created one ceases to exist once he dies, while Allah is eternal and infinite.”
Allah’s hearing is distinguished by its comprehensiveness. Allah revealed the following verse when a woman named Khawlah bint Thaʿlabah went to the Prophet ﷺ to complain about her husband: “Allah has heard the words of the woman who disputed with you [Prophet] about her husband and complained to Allah: Allah has heard what you both had to say. Truly Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing” (Qur’an 58:1).
When this verse was revealed, ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, was shocked and proclaimed, “Blessed is the One whose hearing encompasses all things! Khawlah came to Allah’s Messenger ﷺ complaining about her husband; I was in the house but I could not hear what she said. Then Allah revealed [these verses]!”
Though ʿĀʾishah (rA) was in the same space—houses were not large at all, and were not made of concrete or materials that provide sound insulation—she did not hear what was being said. Yet Allah heard everything.
The companion ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (rA) narrated that some men were gathered by the Kaaba discussing whether or not Allah heard them. One said, “He hears us if we are loud but does not hear us if we are quiet.” Another responded, “If Allah hears us when we are loud, then He also hears us when we are quiet.”
Then, Allah Almighty revealed the verse, “You were not covering yourselves, lest your hearing, your sight, and your skins testify against you. Rather, you assumed that Allah does not know much of what you are doing” (Qur’an 41:22).
Allah hears everyone. He hears the plotters, the slanderers, the gossip-mongers, and the foul-mouthed. Allah said with regard to those plotting against the Muslims, “Do they think We cannot hear their secret talk and their private counsel? Yes, we can: Our messengers are at their sides, recording everything” (Qur’an 43:80).
Indeed, He hears what people say about Him and what they ascribe to Him. He says, “Allah has certainly heard the words of those who sneer, ‘So God is poor, while we are rich.’ We shall record everything they say” (Qur’an 3:180).
Allah warns that He is not oblivious and hears all. Indeed, this should remind us that just because we do not immediately see the consequence of wrongful speech—speech that Allah condemns in the Qur’an—it does not mean that it will not be accounted for. Everything that is said is recorded and will testify on the Day of Judgment. Allah says, “When they reach it, their ears, eyes, and skins will testify against them for their misdeeds. They will say to their skins, ‘Why did you testify against us?’ and their skins will reply, ‘Allah, who gave speech to everything, has given us speech—it was He who created you the first time and to Him you have been returned—yet you did not try to hide yourselves from your ears, eyes, and skin to prevent them from testifying against you. You thought that Allah did not know about much of what you were doing’” (Qur’an 41:20-22).
This should cause us to reflect on what we say, and ask ourselves whether we would be happy for our words to be repeated on the Day of Judgment. It should also reassure us that if we were verbally wronged by others, Allah heard it, and knows of our pain. The Mother of the Believers, ʿĀʾishah (rA), asked the Prophet ﷺ if he had encountered a day more difficult than the day of the Battle of Uḥud. The Prophet ﷺ replied in the affirmative, and mentioned that his most difficult day was when he went to invite Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl ibn ʿAbd Kulāl, one of the chiefs of Ṭāʾif, to Islam. When Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl did not respond to his call, the Prophet ﷺ departed in deep distress.
He ﷺ said, “I did not recover until I arrived at Qarn ath-Thaʿālib. There, I raised my head and saw a cloud which had cast its shadow on me. I saw in it Jibrīl عليه السلام who called me and said, ‘Indeed, Allah, the Exalted, heard what your people said to you and the response they made to you. And He has sent you the angel in charge of the mountains to order him to do to them what you wish.’ Then the angel of the mountains called me, greeted me, and said, ‘O Muḥammad ﷺ, Allah listened to what your people said to you. I am the angel of the mountains, and my Lord has sent me to you so that you may give me your orders. If you wish, I will bring together the two mountains and crush them.’ But Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, ‘I rather hope that Allah will raise from among their descendants people who will worship Allah alone, and not ascribe any partners to Him.’”
At a time when the Prophet ﷺ felt so unheard, when he was rejected, and when people actively tried to silence him,
al-Samīʿ heard, responded to, and comforted him.
Similarly, ʿĀʾishah herself and the companion Ṣafwān bin al-Muʿaṭṭal al-Sulamī (may Allah be pleased with them both) were subject to a horrible smear campaign in the incident known as al-ifk. Ṣafwān had helped ʿĀʾishah (rA) to return home safely after she was accidentally left behind at the end of a military expedition. When they returned to Madinah, some of the hypocrites spread a slanderous rumor about them. It circulated for almost a month, with the community—including many of the righteous among them—listening to, speaking about, and spreading allegations so detestable and untrue.
The All-Hearing heard everything that was said. This ordeal taught the Muslim community the implications of how we use our hearing and our speech. Allah, who is also the Most Kind, spared ʿĀʾishah (rA) the pain of hearing what was said about her for most of that time. She stated that, “After we returned to Madinah, I became ill for a month. The people were propagating the forged statements of the slanderers while I was unaware of that.”
. She only learned of this slander a few days before Allah revealed the verses in
Sūrah al-Nūr vindicating her and admonishing the believers. Allah said,
Recall receiving it with your tongues and saying with your mouths what you had no knowledge of, and considering it trivial while with Allah it is extremely serious. (Qur’an 24:15)
If you are the object of slander, relief from Allah may come immediately, or it may come at a later stage due to His wisdom, but
al-Samīʿ is surely aware. While a person might diminish your pain, or be unaware of the words that were said to you,
al-Samīʿ hears all, and you can turn to Him for comfort.
And if you are one of those people spreading gossip and hearsay, diminishing its gravity, then take heed of the lessons contained in this trial.