as-Samīʿ

The All-Hearing

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Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 2:127.

Heard together with: as-Samīʿ / al-Baṣīr

Start with what we know

Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us. It is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

about 20 Hz to 20 kHz; at threshold the air moves 'a tenth of an atomic diameter' (HyperPhysics)

But: Needs a medium, an ear, attention; follows one voice at a time

Episode 2

In nature

Greater wax moth hears up to 300 kHz, 'the highest recorded frequency sensitivity of any animal' (Moir et al., Biol. Lett. 2013)

Episode 3

At our best

LIGO: detects a change of 1/10,000 of a proton's width over 4 km arms

But: Needs one of the largest vacuum systems on Earth, isolation, two or more sites

Episode 4

The Break

Take away medium, organ, frequency band, competing voices, sound itself (50:16).

Not sharper hearing, but hearing without an ear, without air, without missing a whisper.

Read: Q 58:1; 42:11; 20:46

From the tradition: ʿĀʾisha: 'Praise be to Allah Whose hearing encompasses all voices' (Nasāʾī 3460; Ibn Mājah 188, ṣaḥīḥ). Bukhari 7386: 'You are not calling a deaf or an absent one'. al-Ghazālī: 'hears without earholes or ears'; he perceives 'the creeping of the black ant upon the rugged rock in a dark night'

On screen

Horton strains to hear one tiny town. as-Samīʿ hears every town, and the thought before the word.

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 58:1; 42:11; 20:46; 50:16. Psalm 65:3; 94:9
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Strong. Psalm 65:3 'You who hear prayer'; Psalm 94:9
In the universe: LIGO's first black-hole merger, 14 Sept 2015, about 1.3 billion light-years away (NSF/Caltech/MIT, not NASA/ESA)
In nature: Birdsong: lyrebird clip, BBC Earth; whale song (gap: no verified official clip in )
In people: The woman of 58:1, whose quiet complaint ʿĀʾisha could not hear across the room
In science: Physics of sound: needs a medium; LIGO 'hears' spacetime itself

Living it

Guard the tongue (al-Ghazālī's counsel)

Its kind

Capacity: a quality we know a little of: hearing, knowing, seeing.

In the Qur'an: 2:127; 17:1; 42:11

Watch and listen

Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.

subscriptionfilmFiddler on the RoofTevye talks to God like a friend while life and tradition shift under his feet.1971 · 181 · Norman Jewison (dir.); Mirisch Company · Stream: MGM Plus Amazon Channel; Rent/buy: Apple TV Store, Amazon Video, Sky Store, YouTube

Trailer ↗Where to watch in the UK ↗

FreeYouTube videoThe science of hearing - Douglas L. OliverHow the ear turns air into music and voices.5:17 · TED-Ed

Watch on YouTube ↗

Sources for this page

Wikipedia Horton Hears a Who!; sefaria.org Ps 65:3, 94:9; api.quran.com