As-Sami’
The All-Hearing
Exalted and Glorious
So Allah will suffice for you against them. And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower. (2:137)
Whoever changes the bequest after hearing it, the sin shall be on those who make the change. Truly, Allah is the All-Hearer, All-Knower. (2:181)
And make not Allah’s Name an excuse in your oaths against doing good and acting piously, and making peace among mankind. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (2:224)
Offspring, one of the other, and Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (3:34)
At that time Zakariya invoked his Lord, saying, “Oh my Lord! Grant me from You, a good offspring. You are indeed the All-Hearer of invocation.” (3:38)
And if an evil whisper comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge with Allah. Verily, He is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (7:200)
He, Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said, “My Lord knows every word spoken in the heavens and on earth. And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.” (21:4)
This attribute of Allah means that Allah hears all sounds whether soft or loud. He is the One and the only Being who will remain forever. He listens to all the prayers and sounds of creatures without disruption. Allah loves His bondsman who is ever praying, pleading, and begging Him for favors.
He, who recites this name 100 times without speaking to anyone on Thursdays after al-asr prayer until maghrib prayer, Allah will bestow any desire on him. Nothing is hidden from Him on earth or in the heavens. Nothing is beyond His hearing. Even if it is hidden he encircles all that can be heard, so call upon Him in times of ease and in times of difficulty.
From: The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
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He is the one who hears all that which comes from the lips, passes through the minds, and is felt by the hearts; the rustling of leaves in the wind, the footsteps of the ants, and the atoms’ moving through the void. There is no screen that prevents the sound from reaching Him, nor is one sound heard less than another through an almost infinite number of voices speaking.
As-Sami’, the All-Hearing, is an attribute of perfection because its opposite, deafness, is an imperfection. There are two levels of perfection, absolute and relative. Absolute perfection does not depend on means, conditions, or limitations. Relative perfection depends on means and conditions and is limited. In the universe, from beginning to end, from one end to the other, without interruption, an almost endless number of sounds and voices arise. Some are loud as the greatest explosion; some are minimal, almost imperceptible. All are heard by the All-Hearing one by one at the same time, one as clear as the other. This hearing is not in vain, for all is registered; the meaning understood, the need satisfied, the answer given, the call responded to, and the wrong corrected.
Of this infinite ability to hear, if an atom is given to humanity, it is in order that guides us toward this absolute perfection. It is in order that we know His perfect attributes, which He has given in traces, in signs, in and around us. It is so that we may know Him and find Him and love Him and be with Him.
But when the ones who have even the best ears and the most sensitive machinery listen, if they ever begin to compare their hearing to Allah the Hearer of All, they will be liars. Worse still, they will be guilty of “shirk”, attributing equals to Allah. There is none like Him in any of His attributes and manifestations. The traces and signs of His attributes in human beings and upon the universe are at best a reflection, a symbol, a word, a means, and a path to understand and reach the truth.
‘Abd as-Sami’ and ‘Abd al-Basir are the ones who hear and see the Truth with the eyes and ears of Allah, as Allah says in a divine Hadith: “My servant comes close to me with his continuous devotion until I love him and when I love him I become his ears with which he hears and his eyes with which he sees and his tongue with which he speaks and his hand with which he holds.
If a preacher or a public speaker who believes that Allah hears what he says makes a habit of reciting ya Sami’ as often as possible, his words have a greater effect on the listeners.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti
