The Best Knowledge: Sight, Hearing, Non-Neediness of others of Allah

In our previous blogs, we discussed three of the attributes of Allah that every accountable person must know and believe in.

The three discussed were the attributes of:

• Existence, which the atheists renounce.

• Oneness, which the polytheists, Christians, Jews, and others renounce.

• Non-Resemblance to the creations, which the anthropomorphists renounce.

The third attribute mentioned—clearing Allah from resembling the creations—is of the highest priority in the knowledge of Tawhid.

Now after knowing this rule - clearing Allah from resembling the creation - we will continue explaining the thirteen attributes of Allah that every accountable Muslim must know and believe in.

This blog will cover three attributes, which are The Sight, Hearing, and Allah's Non-Neediness of others.

The Sight of Allah:

Let it be known that Allah, The Exalted (The one clear of resembling the creations), is attributed with sight. The Sight of Allah, which is unlike the sight of the creation, is the attribute with which Allah sees all seeable things. The Sight of Allah is a Beginningless (Eternal) and Endless (Everlasting) attribute of Allah; the sight of the creations is originated - existed after non-existence. We need an eye, pupil, or other instruments to see; Allah sees without any of these. Our sight is very limited; Allah sees all of the creations and sees His Being, which is dissimilar to the creation.

Some of the proofs of Allah’s Sight:

1. Intellectual Proof: If Allah was not attributed with Sight this implies He would be blind, and blindness is an attribute of deficiency and weakness if attributed to God. Hence, it is impossible for Allah to be blind, and not attributed with Sight.

2. Some Textual Proofs:

   From The Qur’an: ﴾ليس كمثله شىء وهو السميع البصير﴿,

   which means: “Nothing resembles Allah in any way and He is attributed with Hearing and Sight”.

   From the Hadith, when the Prophet was mentioning the ninety nine Perfect Names of Allah that have a special merit if a person knew and memorized, he mentioned "السميع البصير". The name "البصير" means: “The One attributed with Sight”

The Hearing of Allah:

Allah, The Exalted, is attributed with Hearing. The Hearing of Allah is the attribute with which Allah hears all hearable things. The Hearing of Allah is a Beginningless (Eternal) and Endless (Everlasting) attribute of Allah; the hearing of others is originated. We need an ear or other instruments to hear; Allah hears without an ear(s) or any other instrument. Our hearing is very limited; Allah hears all hearable things.

Some of the proofs of Allah’s Hearing:

1. Intellectual Proof: If Allah was not attributed with Hearing this implies He would be deaf, and deafness is an attribute of deficiency and weakness if attributed to God. Hence, it is impossible for Allah to be deaf, and not attributed with Hearing.

2. Some Textual Proofs:

   From The Qur’an: ﴾ليس كمثله شىء وهو السميع البصير﴿,

   which means: “Nothing resembles Allah in any way and He is attributed with Hearing and Sight”.

   From the Hadith, when the Prophet was mentioning the ninety nine Perfect Names of Allah that have a special merit if a person knew and memorized, he mentioned "السميع البصير". The name "السميع" means: “The One attributed with Hearing”

Allah's Non-Neediness of others:

The God, The Omnipotent (attributed with consummate power), does not need anyone. We, the creations, need Allah and Allah doesn’t need any of us. It is clearly displayed in our daily lives that we need Allah. Allah is the one who provides us with sustenance (money, clothes, food, etc.).

Some of the Proofs of Allah's Non-Neediness of Others:

1. Intellectual Proofs: If Allah was not attributed with Non-Neediness of Others this would imply He needs others, and needing others is clear deficiency and weakness if attributed to God. Hence, Allah doesn’t need others, and it is impossible for Him to need others.

2. Some Textual Proofs:

   From The Qur’an: ﴾فإن الله غنيٌ عن العالمين﴿,

   which means: “Certainly, Allah doesn’t need any of the creations”.

In this blog, we covered the explanation of three attributes that any person with a sound intellect could understand and prove. The God (Allah) is not in need of others, and He is not deaf nor blind.

In our next blog, we will be discussing the attributes of Eternity and Everlastingness of Allah.

Note: The word eternal in the English language has the two meanings- without a start and without and end - but for the sake of clarity we are using eternal to refer to first meaning and everlastingness for the second.

Stay tuned…