The Art of Listening to the Qur’an | Hidden Treasures Episode 17 | Shaykh Hamza Imtiaz

The Art of Listening to the Qur'an

The art of active listening. Now this is something that we're hearing a lot more about. It's being discussed, it's being talked about. But usually it's in the context of your workplace, as a leader, as a co-worker, and the benefits that come with actively listening. And this is something that we struggle with as a society. So as a leader, as a co-worker, when you begin to listen more and talk less, there's a lot of studies that show that there is a great amount of improvement in your relationship and in productivity.

Now, that's being extended and being talked about in the context of relationships as well. How your marriage could use more listening to your spouse, how as a family, to your children, for children, their parents, et cetera. But what I want to focus on is listening in a different dimension.

While this is good, and it'll help you at work, it'll help you with your family, which is important, but we often overlook the art of listening to the Qur'an.

Crying Due to Listening — Not Just Reading

Now to show how effective this is, what I found really fascinating, subhanAllah, that in the Qur'an, whenever Allah Azza wa Jal talks about crying due to the effect of the Qur'an — now keep in mind, crying is the ultimate expression of something touching your heart. When you're crying, that means the Qur'an has really hit you. When Allah Azza wa Jal talks about crying, to the best of my knowledge, there's no ayah that talks about crying due to reading the Qur'an. It's crying due to listening to the Qur'an. Every time crying comes, it's about you listening to the Qur'an.

The People of the Book Who Wept — Surah Al-Ma'idah

As an example, Allah Azza wa Jal in Surah Al-Ma'idah talks about the kuffar and divides them into different categories. You have the Jews and some of the polytheists, some of the mushrikun, who are extremely arrogant, and they turn away from the Qur'an, they hate the Muslims and Islam. And then he also mentions some from the people of the book, like some of the Christians, who are monks and priests, but لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ — they don't have takabbur, they're not arrogant. And so what happens:

And when they hear what was revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears, because they have recognized the truth.

Those Who Fall in Sajda — Surah Al-Isra

Similarly, in Surah Al-Isra towards the end, Allah Azza wa Jal also talks about it — those that have been given knowledge previously, when the ayat are recited to them:

They fall on their chins in sajda, and literally the word that's used is that they fall on the ground — they fall on their chin. Obviously one cannot literally fall on their chin; what's meant is that they are awestruck. So it's as if you fell straight and your chin hit the ground. And then Allah says: they are crying from what they have heard.

How Can We Build This Habit?

The idea being that listening to the Qur'an can have that effect, but the thing that we need to ask ourselves is — how can we do that? How can we build that habit? And this needs to be our goal for this Ramadan. I am going to up my level of listening. Maybe I'm already going for taraweeh, maybe already in the car I listen to the tilawa of my favorite qari — but how can I take it to the next level?

The Qur'anic Command: Listen and Be Silent

Allah Azza wa Jal also answers that in the Qur'an:

When the Qur'an is recited, fastami'u — listen to it. Now Allah Azza wa Jal also could have just said fasma'u. سَمِعَ means to hear — it means that the sense of hearing is working, you've picked it up. But istima' means you are intentionally listening to it and you are actually paying attention. So it's not just hearing, it's listening. When the Qur'an is recited, don't just hear — listen.

But additionally: وَأَنصِتُوا — and be silent. And this is the active listening that we're talking about. Take it a step further. Shut out all the noise and focus on the Qur'an. When this is done, my dear brothers and sisters, we hope we become from amongst those whose hearts are moved due to the Qur'an and due to listening to the Qur'an in particular.

A Practical Goal for Ramadan

Al-Imam Al-Nawawi رحمه الله in his At-Tibyan Fi Adabi Hamalati Al-Qur'an — which is his masterpiece, a practical guide to having etiquette with the Qur'an — has an entire chapter on those of the Sahaba and of the Tabi'un who would cry due to listening to or reciting the Qur'an.

If we want to be from them — insha'Allah, and we hope that Allah Azza wa Jal makes us from amongst them — then we ought to perfect the art of listening and active listening to the Qur'an this Ramadan.