ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

The Ever-listening, The All-seeing

As-salamu alaykum! Welcome back to another newsletter. Before I start, I’d like to apologize to my regular readers for my prolonged absence. I was just so busy with my college. I started writing this newsletter when September began. Every day, I’d sit in the library before my lectures and write down some of it. And then one day, I went to the library and it was locked. Turned out that it was being used for some examinations and still is out of bounds for students. Since then, I haven’t written anything. Anyways, in today’s topic, I will discuss Allah Subhanawata’ala’s two attributes; Al-Samee’ and Al-Baseer. Let’s not waste any more time and get right into it. Put on your headphones if you’d like some ambience.

Photo by Eddie & Carolina Stigson on Unsplash

As you may already know from the subtitle of this newsletter, ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ means The One Ever-listening, The One Ever-seeing. We do understand the meaning but have we really internalized this? When we are faced with certain circumstances and challenged with hardships in life, do we remember this? Do we calm our hearts with this phrase, ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ? The answer for the majority is no, we don’t. Do you know what “Ever-listening” means? This is what it means,

“Don’t you realize Allah knows what is in the Heavens and the Earth? There is no private conversation between three people but He is their fourth, if five He is their sixth; whether they are few or more, He is with them wherever they are..”

He listens to your conversations with others, your conversation with yourself. He listens to the sound of your heart. The unsaid words. Things that nobody heard from you, he has heard them. I was doing some research on Allah’s attribute, Al-Samee’ and this is what I came across:

How do we then conceptualize Allah's hearing? He is forever listening. There is no deficiency in His perception. He hears all, even if it were hidden. He knows what is felt by the hearts. This attribute is also a reminder if you need someone to talk to, He will always be there to hear from His servant. We don't have to go to His house (Kaabah) just to be close to Him.

"And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me"

Imagine, can your friend/parents/sibling listen to you when you’ve got something to tell at 3 in the morning? They’ll probably be sleeping. But for Allah, there’s no day and night, sleeping time, or anything. He is always available for you. Read it again. He is always available for you.

There will be no one in your life who will be always available for you, 24/7. We are humans. We can listen to others but we’ve got things to do in our lives. Allah is available for each one of us, twenty-four-seven. And he’s not any listener, He is the best of listeners. Not only does he listen to your problems (the ones he already knows but loves to hear from you) but he also removes your hardship from you, eases your heart, and comforts you. Isn’t he the best of those who take care of you?

Moving on to Al-Baseer. Allah Subhanawata’ala is also, The Ever-seeing. The one always watching you. If you really try to internalize this, that Allah is always watching you, chills might run down your spine. This phrase is one of the most effective ways to leave sins. Because we as humans, get ashamed when we are doing something wrong and someone catches us red-handed. Let’s say, you listen to music a lot but you read somewhere two days ago that it’s haram to listen to music. You want to quit it but you just cannot, you keep going back to it but then you suddenly realize, “Oh no, Allah is looking at me right now as I commit this sin!” Chances are, you will not listen to music after realizing this. At least for that day.

Speaking of these attributes of Allah, I was reminded of Prophet Musa’s story in Surah Ta-Ha when Allah commanded Prophet Musa and his brother, Prophet Harun (عَلَیهم السَّلام) to go to Pharaoh and speak to him about Allah, their Lord. For those of you who don’t know, Pharaoh used to claim himself to be the god, and for both of the prophets (عَلَیهم السَّلام) to go to him and tell him that he wasn’t the god and that Allah in fact, was the Lord of The Worlds was a big thing. Here’s the conversation that took place:

۞ ٱذْهَبَآ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُۥ طَغَىٰ

“Go, both of you, to Pharaoh; he has indeed transgressed all limits.”

۞ فَقُولَا لَهُۥ قَوْلًۭا لَّيِّنًۭا لَّعَلَّهُۥ يَتَذَكَّرُ أَوْ يَخْشَىٰ

“And speak to him with gentle speech that perhaps he may be reminded or fear [Allāh]."

۞قَالَا رَبَّنَآ إِنَّنَا نَخَافُ أَن يَفْرُطَ عَلَيْنَآ أَوْ أَن يَطْغَىٰ

“They said, “Our Lord, we fear that he will hasten against us, or will become (more) rebellious (against You).”

۞ قَالَ لَا تَخَافَآ ۖ إِنَّنِى مَعَكُمَآ أَسْمَعُ وَأَرَىٰ

“Allah reassured ˹them˺, “Have no fear! I am with you, hearing and seeing.”

How beautiful is this.“Have no fear! I am with you, hearing and seeing.”

Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash

Does He even know?

Often this question pops up in our minds, right? But it is not for us to ask this question. Allah indeed, knows what’s happening with you. Allah even knows what will happen to you tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, next year, and in the next 10 years. He knows it all. Even before you and I came into this world, he knew where we were going to live, who we were going to meet, and where we were going to die.

“…no soul knows what it will earn for tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”

It is not for us to question Allah’s endless knowledge. And how can we? Did we forget that it is he whom all the things that happen to us take permission to happen? We did. All those trials and those harsh conversations and insults and those failures and everything else that comes your way is in fact, through Allah’s will. He willed these things for you.

۞ مَّا يَفْتَحِ ٱللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ مِن رَّحْمَةٍۢ فَلَا مُمْسِكَ لَهَا ۖ وَمَا يُمْسِكْ فَلَا مُرْسِلَ لَهُۥ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

“Whatever mercy Allah opens up for people, none can withhold it. And whatever He withholds, none but Him can release it. For He is the Almighty, All-Wise.”

We did forget that Allah gives permission to our lungs every second to let us breathe, Allah gives permission to our heart to pump blood every second, and Allah gives permission to our brain to process things every second. And those red blood cells on whom our life depends so much, cannot exchange oxygen until Allah has permitted them.

We did forget that it is Allah who is in control of our lives, not us. And that if he does not allow a thing to happen, it won’t happen no matter what you do.

There is no one who knows or will ever know us, better than Allah. There is no one better than him who has or will ever listen to us. There is no one better than Allah who will ever look after us better than Allah.

۞وَأَسِرُّوا۟ قَوْلَكُمْ أَوِ ٱجْهَرُوا۟ بِهِۦٓ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ

“Whether you keep your talk secret or make it aloud, He knows well what lies in the hearts.”

۞أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ

“How could He who created not know His own creation, while He is the Knower of the finest things, the All-Aware?”

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

“And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.”

Humbleness & Immediate Response

‘So if Allah knows my situation so well, then why won’t he fix it?’

First of all, learn to humble yourself before Allah. I’m speaking to myself before anyone else. Learn to be humble. Admit that you don’t know anything and you don’t have any other helper besides Allah. That’s the first step. The second step is actually to go and read my Sabr & Shukr newsletter. 😁

Jokes aside, if you haven’t, you should go and read that first because these topics are very correlated. The second step is in fact, to be patient. Nothing in life is immediate. Sow some seeds and it’ll take you a minimum of 1 week to even see a seedling. Things take time. The problem with us is we want everything now. We have this strong urge to have things instantly. But that is not how it works.

I want it now. I understand my situation better. This is the time I’m in most need of thing A. Two minutes have passed, and Allah still hasn’t answered my dua’a.

No, you do not understand your situation better than Allah. Allah understands it better. When you have grown old, you’ll look back at your life and all the terrible and amazing things that happened to you and the way life unfolded, you will then realize that the way you wanted things was pretty messed up but the way Allah unwrapped your life before you was in the best possible manner.

This is it for today’s newsletter. I hope you benefitted from it, Insha’Allah. If you know someone who’s going through something and is in need of some support, do share it with them. That’s going to be a Sadaqah for you and me!

Update

I’m probably shifting from weekly newsletters to monthly newsletters. I have finals in January so you know, gotta study, :) And regarding the Gen-Z newsletters, they’ll probably come out in winter vacations or later because I have mocks in November too. Pretty busy schedule. As for now, I’m going to start posting newsletters on Allah’s attributes. Good topics.

Thank you for taking the time to read! Until next week month.

Ps: Ignore typos please, I’m sure you know by now that I’m in a hurry!