A Summary of the Discussion on the Previous Chapter

The Shaykh : Yesterday we spoke about the hearing of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and clarified that it is divided into two categories: perceiving what is heard, and responding to the caller. We presented the evidence for the fact that "hearing" comes to mean responding, and we clarified that the hearing which means perceiving what is heard is divided into three sections, or if you wish, three types: the first is for threat, the second is for support, and the third is for generality. We also presented the evidence and examples for this. We also clarified the revelation of the verse where "hearing" came in the past tense and the present tense. The past tense indicates what has passed, and the present tense indicates the present state. Here I ask: Is the hearing of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, among His essential attributes or among His action attributes? The answer is: It is among His essential attributes. What occurs is only what is heard, as for the hearing itself, it has always been and will always remain an attribute with which He is described. But what is heard is what occurs, just as knowledge is: the knowledge of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is an eternal, everlasting attribute among His essential attributes, but what occurs is the known thing. Among this is His saying, the Exalted: So this is knowledge related to the known thing, and the known thing is created. As for the eternal knowledge which is an attribute of Allah, it is prior. Allah knows who will strive and who will not strive, and who will be patient and who will not be patient; He knows from before. But this is knowledge of a thing after its existence, so it is related to the known thing when it occurs. Perhaps the discussion will come to us, if Allah wills, regarding knowledge and its categories in the author's words.