—when he said, “In Baghdad I have left behind something the heretics have invented; they call it taghyīr, and by it they divert people from the Quran.”

As for sounds that reach a person without his intending to listen, no prohibition or censure is attached to them by unanimous agreement of the imams. Praise or blame, therefore, is linked to deliberate listening (istimāʿ), not to the mere act of hearing (samāʿ). The one who intentionally listens to the Quran is rewarded, whereas the one who only happens to hear it without intending to is not, for actions are judged by intentions. Likewise, if someone unintentionally hears a kind of amusement whose listening is forbidden, he is not harmed by that accidental hearing.

So, should a person hear a line of verse that fits his present state, stirring the praiseworthy emotion within him and rousing the beloved Guest who dwells in his heart, or should he himself quote such a line, that is not among the things that are forbidden—provided, of course, that what is stirred is the good movement of the heart loved by Allah and His Messenger, or that it entails doing what Allah loves and refraining from what He dislikes. A case in point is the one who passes by a house and hears someone say, “Every day you change; apart from this you would be more beautiful,” and from it he draws an allusion that matches his state—for such allusion belongs to the domain of analogy, reflection, and the striking of parables.

The question of samāʿ is vast and far-reaching; we have dealt with it elsewhere. What concerns us here is that the aims sought by spiritual aspirants are attained through the believing, Qurʾanic, prophetic, religious, and lawful samāʿ—the samāʿ of the prophets, of the scholars, of the gnostics, and of the believers. Allah the Exalted says:

• “Those are the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed His favor—among the prophets descended from Adam … Whenever the revelations of the Most Merciful are recited to them, they fall down in prostration, weeping.” (Maryam 19:58)

• “Indeed, those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall upon their faces in prostration … and it increases them in humility.” (Al-Isrāʾ 17:107-109)

• “When they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth.” (Al-Māʾidah 5:83)

• “The true believers are only those whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned and whose faith grows when His verses are recited to them.” (Al-Anfāl 8:2)

• “Allah has sent down the best discourse: a Book, consistent and oft-repeated; the skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it.” (Az-Zumar 39:23)

Just as He praised those who turn toward this samāʿ, He censured those who turn away from it, as in His saying:

• “Among people are those who purchase idle talk so as to mislead from Allah’s path without knowledge and to make it a mockery … When Our verses are recited to him, he turns away arrogantly as though he had not heard them.” (Luqmān 31:6-7)

• “And those who, when reminded of the signs of their Lord, do not fall upon them deaf and blind.” (Al-Furqān 25:73)

• “Had Allah known any good in them, He would certainly have enabled them to hear.” (Al-Anfāl 8:23)