Sunnis held that God acquires a newly-occurring act of listening within His very Essence. They reasoned that, just as we observe in created beings that a conscious awareness of what is heard comes into existence for them once something is spoken—since, when a creature hears, an intellectual grasp of the sound that reaches the ear is newly formed—so, they claimed, is the Divine hearing.
Likewise, regarding His words, “Say: ‘Act, and Allah will see your deeds—and so will His Messenger’” (9:105), this does not signify that a fresh, time-bound faculty of sight is produced within Him; rather, the deed itself comes into being, and He sees it once it is fashioned, exactly as He had always known it before it existed.
[al-Muḥāsibī’s remarks on Divine Elevation:]
He continued: “In the same vein are His statements, ‘He is the All-Subduer, above His servants’ (6:18); ‘The All-Merciful rose over the Throne’ (20:5); ‘Do you feel secure against Him who is in the heaven?’ (67:16); and, ‘To Him ascend the good word, and the righteous deed…’”