The Ninety-Nine Names · the 26th name
السَّمِيع
As-Sami'
The All-Hearing
- The rootس م ع
- From the rootsami'a: to hear, and to hear in the sense of responding
The essay
In Arabic, hearing is not passive. The word in the prayer, sami'a Allahu li-man hamidah, does not mean God detected the sound; it means He responded to it. As-Sami' hears every language at once, hears what is said and what is only formed and swallowed, hears the prayer of the person who has no words left. Distance does not apply. Volume does not apply. The Qur'an gives the case of the woman who argued with the Prophet about her husband and complained to Allah, and says He heard her, and the surah is named for the argument.
In the Qur'an
وَإِذۡ يَرۡفَعُ إِبۡرَٰهِـۧمُ ٱلۡقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ وَإِسۡمَٰعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلۡ مِنَّآۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡعَلِيمُ
And when Abraham was raising the foundations of the House, and Ishmael with him: our Lord, accept this from us. You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Say the thing out loud, even badly. He is not evaluating your phrasing.
Read beside it
The words