Chapter 5 - A Commentary On: Wa Huwa As-Sami‘U Al-Basir
A Commentary on the phrase Wa Huwa as-Sami‘u al-Basir
وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
While He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
“... Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (42:11).
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وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
While He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing
Scholars of insight1 say that whereas the previous phrase (Laysa ka mithlihi shay’) which forms a part of verse 42:11 of the Holy Qur’an refers to Allah’s transcendence (tanzih), the phrase under discussion alludes to His immanence (tashbih). And this is the balance which true monotheists must observe.
The sentence Huwa as-Sami‘ al-Basir signifies that the two divine names belong only to Allah. This is because, as we came to learn earlier, according to the rules of Arabic grammar, when the definite article al is prefixed to the predicate of a sentence, it means that the predicate is restricted for the subject. In our case here the article al appears on both as-Sami‘u and al-Basir, which are predicates, and hence they are exclusively for the subject Huwa (He) i.e. Allah.
Fakhr al-Din ar-Razi in his exegesis of the Qur’an, Tafsir Mafatih al-Ghayb, when discussing the phrase ‘wa Huwa as-Sami‘u al-Basir says it signifies the restriction of the two attributes for God. Then he continues:
What then is the meaning of this restriction when the servants are also qualified with the two attributes? In response we say: as-Sami‘u and al-Basir are words that allude to [the] possession of these two attributes at their perfect level; and perfection in every attribute is for none other than Allah. This is the meaning of this restriction2.
وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
While He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing
Esteemed theologians opine that these are names that depict divine knowledge. They should not transport us to conjecture that Allah has ears or eyes as human beings do. In the words of Shaykh Mufid, Allah is:
عالم بالمسموعات والمبصرات
He knows the audibilities and visibilities3.
This is because He is the Primal Cause of everything. The Holy Qur’an says:
أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ
“Would He who has created not know? And He is the All-attentive, the All-aware” (67:14).
وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
While He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing
A thought-provoking opinion the insightful scholars give is that because whatever exists in the world is a self-manifestation (tajalli) of Allah, no one save He is a hearer and seer. The spiritual wayfarers who attain the peak of divine proximity literally behold this reality. Amir al-Mu’minin ‘Ah Ibn Abl Talib (‘a), for example, is reported to have said:
سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ يَقُولُ : عَلِيٌّ ... صِرَادُ اللهِ الْمُسْتَقِيمُ .... وَهُوَ عَيْنُ اللهِ النَّاظِرَة، وَأُذْنُهُ السَّامِعَةُ
I heard the Holy Prophet (S) say: ‘Ali is... the path of Allah, which is straight... He [‘Ah] is God’s eye that sees (‘ayn Allah an-nazirah), and His ear that listens (udhunuhu as-Sami‘ah)4.
In another tradition Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) is reported to have said:
فَتَحْنُ أُذْنُهُ السَّامِعَةُ وَعُيُونُهُ النَّاظِرَةُ
Thus, we are His [i.e. God’s] listening ear and beholding eye5.
This station of beholding the reality, the insightful scholars believe, is attained through obligatory actions legislated by Allah. In their terminology it is a station of divine proximity that is called qurb al-fara’id (proximity attained through obligatory deeds).
