Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Habīb ibn al-Shahīd narrated to us, saying: Al-Muʿtamir narrated to us, saying: I heard my father say: Abū ʿUthmān narrated to us, from Abū Mūsā.

Muhammad ibn Bashshār, al-Husayn ibn al-Hasan, and others also narrated to us. The two related from Marhūm al-ʿAttār—Bundār saying “narrated to us,” and al-Husayn saying “informed us”—who said: Abū Naʿāmah al-Saʿdī narrated to us, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī.

This is Marhūm’s version. Abū Mūsā said:

“I was with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on a military expedition. As we returned and came within sight of Medina, the people raised their voices in a cry of ‘Allah is the Greatest.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘Your Lord is neither deaf nor absent.’”

In his version, al-Muʿtamir related: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“You are not calling upon one who is deaf or absent.”