The Listening capacity as a Blessing
Listening attentively is one of the etiquette of listening and a display of gratefulness towards the blessings of Allah. When a person is addressing you, do not show boredom, restlessness or irritation on your face. The speaker will be happy and satisfied of being heard. Only after listening completely you can be able to respond correctly.
Khawla (Allah be pleased with her) came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and complained that her husband had committed Zihar with her. In the days of ignorance, when a man wanted to harass his wife, he did not divorce her but used to say, “You are (haram) like my mother to me.” Khawla’s husband did it to her. She complained, “My youth has passed away serving my husband and our children, and now he has does zihar with me.” The lady went on complaining on and on and kept on persisting about her case asking for justice. The Prophet (peace be upon him) remained quiet and listened to her attentively without intervening in between. Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) who narrated this incident, said that she was sitting in the next room listening to the persisting pleading of the lady and the Prophet (peace be upon him) remained quiet on the issue (waiting for Allah’s revelation).
It is a part of good manners not to interrupt when someone is talking to us and it is a way of honouring a person when we listen to him or her attentively
It was then Allah revealed the first few verses of Surah Mujadilah in favour of her and reprimanding men who do zihar with their wives. While the lady was pleading with the Prophet (peace be upon him) Allah was attentively listening to her. “Certainly Allah has the heard the speech of the one who argues with you concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your speeches indeed, Allah is all Hearing and all Seeing.” The story does not end here but it proceeds till the time of the reign of Umar bin Al Khattab (Allah be pleased with him).
Once the Khalifa was passing by along with his whole unit of army which included elite Quraish and others. A grand old lady stopped him and wanted to tell him something. Umar lowered his head to listen to her attentively. After a long time when she finished her talk Umar (Allah be pleased with him) took her leave and proceeded. Till then the entire army waited. Someone asked him about the reason for his extra attention in listening to the old lady while the whole army waited for a long time. He replied, “By Allah, even if she had spoken to me for whole night, I would have heard him in the same manner. Do you know who is she? She spoke on the earth and her Lord heard her and responded her from above the seven heavens.”
When you give an attentive ears to your enemies too, they might be influenced by you
Utbah who was a staunch enemy of the Prophet (peace be upon him) came to him. He used to boast among the Makkans, “ If I get a chance to face Mohammed once, I will cure him of all the black magic and other sickness that he is hit with.” One day he got a chance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was sitting in the shade of Kabah and people directed Utbah to go to him and fulfil his words. He was a non Muslim but wanted to be heard. He approached and asked him if he can talk to him. The Prophet (peace be upon him) allowed him. He went on doing his recital of words to get rid of the so called magic and it went on for a long time. Meanwhile the people sat far and watched the confrontation and waited for an outcome. He used all his recitals and could not see any effect. Finally he was exhausted and stopped, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked him, “Are you done? Now will you listen to me?” He agreed and the Prophet (peace be upon him) began reciting the verses of surah Ahkaf. He was hearing and seemed enjoying it.
The people watching it were amazed to see the so called magic curer himself being a victim. Finally he requested the Prophet (peace be upon him) to stop. He stopped but said to him, Listen! If you reject the Message of Allah and His messenger then you situation will end like those of the people of A’ad and Thamud. The man got panicked and he requested to be allowed to go. He went to his people and said, “No one can match him. His words have huge impact. One day his followers will be spread all across the world.”
Do you listen to your wives and children attentively? The Prophet (peace be upon him) did
Today the biggest complaint against the husbands in our community is that they do not listen to the grievance of their wives. Many women are made to feel that they are not more than a maid in their homes. It is also essential to listen to your children before you pass a ruling upon them. Many people rush to be harsh upon their children. Some people have said, if someone approached us we used to present ourselves in three ways.
- If he comes to us, I make way for him to sit in the gathering.
- When he talks I listen to him attentively
- When he comes and sits closely, then I focus on what he has to say.
This conveys a message to the one who has arrived that we are happy at his arrival.
Listening attentively is also an essential requirement when it comes to Religious sermons
Senior scholars have suggested that one should observe silent as much as he can when the senior scholars are speaking. Apply the same discipline when you sit in the gathering of senior people of your family or profession. Religious instructions too deserve an attentive listening.
Once the Prophet (peace be upon him) was sitting in the Masjid a Nabwi giving a sermon, where three men turned up. One of them walked quietly towards the Prophet (peace be upon him) and managed to find a place close to him and settled there. The second person thought it not comfortable to push himself in the front rows as he was late neither he felt comfortable to leave the Masjid and walk out as the Prophet (peace be upon him) talked. So he settled little behind of the crowd. The third one did not show any courtesy to sit and listen to what the Prophet (peace be upon him) had to say so he left.
After completing his sermon, the Prophet (peace be upon him) announced to the people, “Let me share the situation of three people. One of them who came and joined the gathering closely has come closer to Allah. Allah has brought him closer to him. The other felt shy to leave the gathering so he sat where he found a place. Since he felt reluctant to leave the gathering where the words of Allah were spoken, Allah also felt reluctant to let him off without any reward so He covered him with His mercy. The third man ignored this gathering and went away so Allah also ignored him.”
Do you come to Jumuah Khutbah just to finish a formality of prayers or listen to what Allah and His messenger has to say?
Whoever performs ghusl and wears a good dressing and goes to the Masjid early in order to listen to the Khutbah, then for each of his step he is rewarded as if he has prayed for a whole year and fasted for a whole year.( Bukhari). Today many people just prefer to come to the Jumah prayers only a few minutes before the Jamat stands up, chose a place near the door so that they may walk out immediately after the prayers are over. This is the blessings of sitting in the gathering to listen to the Sermons of Deen.
He made for you hearing and vision and heart that perhaps you would be grateful…An-Nahl, verse 78
On the day of Qiyamah we would be accounted about the usage of these blessings
Then, on that Day, you shall be asked about the blessings...At-Takaathur, verse8
Therefore hearing is one of the blessed faculty given by Allah and one has to be grateful about it by using it in the right way.