All praise is due to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Allah is All-Hearing and All-Seeing. We affirm for Him the attributes of hearing and sight as He affirmed them for Himself, without likening Him to His creation or drawing comparisons. We do not know the manner, true reality, or exact nature of these two attributes. Not knowing the manner does not mean doubting the existence of the attribute; rather, it means not knowing the manner in which Allah possesses that attribute, which is a matter of the unseen that Allah has not informed us about.
Among Allah’s Names are Al-Sami‘ (the All-Hearing) and Al-Basir (the All-Seeing), and among His attributes are hearing and sight.
Allah says:
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” [Ash-Shura 42:11]
Allah hears all sounds, and nothing is hidden from Him. He sees all of His creation, and nothing is concealed from Him.
Allah says:
“Not even the weight of an atom is hidden from Him in the heavens or on the earth, nor anything smaller or greater than that, except that it is in a clear Record.” [Saba’ 34:3]
And He says:
“He knows the stealthy glance of the eyes and what the hearts conceal.” [Ghafir 40:19]
Thus, the believer affirms what Allah affirmed for Himself, but does not make Allah’s hearing like the hearing of created beings, nor His sight like their sight.
What is meant by the “manner” is: the true reality and form in which the attribute exists with respect to Allah.
We know that Allah hears and sees, and we understand the basic meaning of hearing and sight, but we do not know how Allah’s hearing and sight truly are, nor can we encompass the exact reality of His attributes.
This applies to all of Allah’s attributes. We affirm for Him what He affirmed for Himself, such as the face, hand, eye, and other attributes, without knowing their manner and without likening them to the attributes of created beings.
Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, may Allah have mercy on him, explained the difference between affirmation and resemblance. He stated that resemblance is to say: “hearing like hearing” or “hearing similar to another hearing.” But affirming hearing and sight for Allah as they appear in the revealed texts, without asking how and without saying they are like those of creation, is not resemblance.
This is the meaning of Allah’s statement:
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” [Ash-Shura 42:11]
This verse combines affirmation and transcendence: it affirms hearing and sight while denying any likeness between Allah and His creation.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that if someone asks: “How does Allah descend?” or “How did He rise over the Throne?” or “How does He know, speak, or exercise power?” he may be asked:
“How is He in Himself?”
If a human being cannot know the manner of Allah’s essence, then all the more so he cannot encompass the manner of His attributes.
Therefore, when we say “without asking how”, this does not mean that the attribute has no true reality or that it is merely an unknowable expression. Rather, it means that we do not know the manner in which Allah possesses that attribute.
There is a clear difference between two matters:
We should not delve into such details without evidence.
We know with certainty that Allah hears sounds and sees things, but we do not know the true manner of His hearing and sight.
As for asking: Does Allah hear sounds in the same way we hear them? Does He see created things in the same way we see them? This requires qualification, and it is not permissible to measure the attributes of the Creator against the attributes of created beings.
The principle in this matter is that what is hidden from us and whose true reality Allah has not informed us of should not be discussed without knowledge.
Allah says:
“Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight, and the heart—each of these will be questioned.” [Al-Isra’ 17:36]
And He says:
“Say: My Lord has only forbidden immoralities, whether open or secret, sin, unjust aggression, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know.” [Al-A‘raf 7:33]
Because Allah has not informed us of it, and because our minds and senses are incapable of fully comprehending the true reality of the Creator’s attributes.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that Allah and His Messenger did not inform us of the manner of these attributes. Therefore, the means by which we could know their manner are absent, and it is consequently impossible for a human being to define the manner of Allah’s attributes.
A Muslim is not required to imagine a form for Allah’s hearing or sight, nor to search for a particular image in his mind. Rather, he is required to believe in what has come in revelation, deny any resemblance between Allah and His creation, and refrain from speaking about what has not been revealed.
When we say, “We do not know the manner of Allah’s hearing and sight,” we mean that we firmly believe that Allah is All-Hearing and All-Seeing, but we do not know the true manner in which He possesses hearing and sight, nor the exact reality of those attributes.
Ignorance of the manner is not ignorance of the existence of the attribute, nor does it mean that Allah’s hearing and sight have no true reality. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that the manner of Allah’s attributes belongs to the unseen that Allah has not disclosed to us.
Therefore, we affirm Allah’s attributes as they have been revealed, without asking how, without drawing comparisons, and without likening them to created beings, and we do not measure the attributes of the Creator by those of creation.
And Allah knows best.