The Exegesis of the Saying of Allah the Exalted: “Those who listen to the statement and then follow the best of it. Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the people of understanding.”

Then He clarified some of their attributes, saying: This is among the signs of the servants of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that they do not waste opportunities. They listen to the statement, meaning they pay attention to it. He did not say “they hear,” because listening implies following the speaker and paying attention to him, unlike hearing. We give an example of a man who passed by a reciter and heard him reciting, and another man who passed by a reciter reciting and sat down to listen to him. The first is a hearer, and the second is a listener. For this reason, the scholars said, based on this distinction, that if a reciter recites a verse containing a prostration and he prostrates, then the hearer does not prostrate, but the listener does, because the listener is following, while the hearer is not following. So these people listen to the statement; they do not waste an opportunity. The intended meaning of “the statement” here is the statement Here, the definite article is for the covenant, and it is likely to be for the covenant of remembrance, due to His saying: That is, they listen to the good statement, not every statement. So here we say that it is for the covenant, and it is likely to be for the covenant of remembrance, due to His saying: So what is the intended meaning of “the statement” here? The good statement. As for idle talk or the bad, Allah says: If they turn away from idle talk because there is no benefit in it, then the forbidden is even more so. So these are people who have resolve; they are frugal with their time and do not listen except to the good statement. Now, if they listen to the good statement, we know that among the good there is what is better and what is good. What do they follow? He says: For example, if they hear the encouragement regarding the night prayer, and that the most of it is, for example, eleven rak'ahs and the least is one rak'ah, what do they follow?
The student: Eleven.

The Shaykh : Eleven, because it is the best. If they hear about spending in the pursuit of knowledge and spending on a poor person who is not in dire necessity, what do they follow?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : They follow the pursuit of knowledge, because they follow the best. So they did not waste time, nor did they neglect the best; rather, they listened to every good statement and followed the best of it. Now, if they followed the good and left the best, they are not to be blamed for that, but they are not at the peak of perfection. The one at the peak of perfection is the one who follows the best.