All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
What is established is that the angels descend to gatherings of remembrance and listen to Qur’an recitation by Allah’s command, as occurred in the story of Usayd ibn Hudayr, may Allah be pleased with him. There is nothing in that hadith proving that they heard his recitation while remaining in the heavens. Rather, it indicates that they descended and came close to him. Even if Allah were to enable some of His angels to hear speech from a distant place, this would not mean that they independently possess an attribute exclusive to Allah, because their hearing is created and limited to whatever Allah enables them to hear.
It is authentically established that Usayd ibn Hudayr, may Allah be pleased with him, was reciting the Qur’an at night when his horse became agitated. He then saw above him something resembling a cloud containing lights, which later rose into the sky.
The Prophet ﷺ said to him:
“Those were the angels listening to you. Had you continued reciting, they would have remained until morning and people would have seen them, and they would not have hidden from them.”
[Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The hadith indicates that the angels descended to the place of recitation and came near him in order to listen to the Qur’an.
It does not indicate that they were in the distant heavens hearing his voice from there.
It is also authentically established that Allah has angels who travel through the earth searching for gatherings in which Allah is remembered.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Indeed, Allah has angels who travel along the roads seeking out the people of remembrance.”
[Agreed upon]
When they find people remembering Allah, they surround them with their wings.
The Prophet ﷺ also said:
“No group of people sit remembering Allah, Mighty and Majestic, except that the angels surround them, mercy covers them, tranquility descends upon them…”
[Reported by Muslim]
Thus, the texts depict the angels as descending and attending gatherings of remembrance, not as depending on hearing human beings from the heavens.
No.
The angels belong to the unseen world, and their abilities are not like human abilities. We only know about them what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have informed us.
Therefore, we may not determine on our own how far an angel can hear or how that hearing occurs.
However, we know that Allah is able to make them hear whatever He wills and to inform them of whatever He wills concerning the duties with which He has entrusted them.
For this reason, scholars have said regarding the angels’ knowledge of what a person intends of good or evil that Allah is able to inform them of it in whatever manner He wills.
No.
There is a fundamental difference between the attribute of the Creator and the ability of a created being.
Allah Almighty is the All-Hearing, with perfect and unrestricted hearing befitting His Majesty. Neither the faintness of a sound nor the distance of a place prevents Him from hearing.
An angel, however, is a created being. Its hearing is created and limited, and it hears only according to the ability Allah has granted it.
So even if evidence established that an angel heard something from far away, this would mean that Allah enabled that angel to do so in that particular circumstance, not that the angel possesses unlimited and independent hearing like the hearing of Allah.
No.
Affirming a special ability for a created being, when that ability is established by revelation, is not shirk as long as one believes that it exists by Allah’s creation and permission and is not an independent power.
The angels descend by Allah’s command, as He says:
“We do not descend except by the command of your Lord.”
[Maryam: 64]
Thus, all the abilities and functions of the angels fall within Allah’s dominion and governance.
According to the fatwa, there is an important difference.
First, whatever is affirmed for angels concerning hearing or knowledge of particular matters is only affirmed on the basis of religious evidence and according to what Allah has enabled them to do.
But for a person to assume on his own that an absent or dead individual hears the call of everyone who calls upon him from every place requires evidence, and such a claim should not be made without knowledge.
Second, the issue is not only about hearing; it is also about what is believed to follow from that hearing.
Whoever calls upon someone other than Allah, asking that being for something that only Allah can do—such as independently removing distress, forgiving sins, or possessing unrestricted control over harm and benefit—has attributed to that being something that belongs to the exclusive rights of Lordship.
Allah Almighty says:
“Those whom you invoke besides Him do not possess even the membrane of a date stone. If you call upon them, they do not hear your call; and even if they were to hear it, they could not respond to you.”
[Fatir: 13–14]
No.
Allah may grant some of His creatures abilities beyond what is normal for human beings, and that does not make them partners with Him.
The angels are mighty creatures and have abilities and functions different from those of humans. Nevertheless, they remain servants of Allah and possess nothing for themselves or others independently of His command.
The problem is not merely affirming that a created being can hear in a particular situation. Rather, the problem is attributing to it an unrestricted attribute or independent power that belongs exclusively to Allah, without evidence.
The hadith of Usayd ibn Hudayr does not indicate that the angels were hearing the Qur’an from the distant heavens. Rather, it indicates that they descended and came close to the place of recitation and listened to the Qur’an.
We do not know in detail the extent or nature of the angels’ hearing, because they belong to the unseen world. If Allah enables some of His angels to hear something from a distant place, then that occurs by His power and permission and does not give the angel unrestricted hearing resembling Allah’s hearing.
Nor is this comparable to calling upon absent people or the dead while believing that they hear supplications and independently control people’s needs, because the angels act only by Allah’s command, and all of their abilities are created and limited.
And Allah knows best.