the two Sahīh collections, it is narrated that Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Two men from Thaqīf and one from Quraysh—or two from Quraysh and one from Thaqīf—gathered at the Kaaba and conversed. One of them said, ‘Do you think Allah hears what we say?’ Another replied, ‘He hears if we speak openly, but does not hear if we speak in secret.’ The third said, ‘If He hears any of it, then He hears it all.’ Then Allah Most High revealed:

‘You did not conceal yourselves lest your hearing, your sight, or your skins testify against you, but you thought that Allah did not know much of what