Ramadhan Day 9 / Juzz 9 - Be a good listener

Ramadhan Day 9 / Juzz 9

"And do not be like those who say, "We have heard," while they do not hear. Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason." (8:21-22)

In these ayahs, Allah talks about the act of listening. He says, don't be like those people who say they listen but have not really heard. In other words, don't become passive listeners.

This ayah has profound implications on what listeners we need to become.

In today's day and age, we get exposed to so much media. So we may be in a Jumu'ah Khutbah, or we might be listening to a talk or something, but at the same time we'll be updating our FB status, or texting a friend.

Or we may be listening to our parents but are not really paying attention to what they're saying cos we're so engrossed in watching TV.

Allah is reminding us we need to become people of full attention. This ayah is specific to the etiquette people should show to Rasulullah (salallahu alayhi wasalalam) but we too can extract lessons from it.

Allah then compares those who don't listen to animals. You can give an animal a lecture but you don't really see a change in their behaviour. So the experience of one who doesn't pay heed to an advice is like the experience of an animal - it benefits him not.

So the take home message from this verse, is to first, pay attention to what you hear. Secondly, internalise what you hear, or in other words try to implement and take heed of the reminder.