the first meaning: that it is heard from someone conveying it on his behalf, not that it is heard directly from him, nor that his own act of speaking those words has occurred. If this is so with the speech of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then it applies all the more to the speech of Allah, glorified be He. People know that none of them has heard it from Allah as Moses heard Allah’s speech from Him. Rather, they know that Allah’s speech has been heard only from those who convey it, as Allah Most High says:

“O Messenger, convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, then you have not conveyed His message.”

And Allah Most High says:

“So that He may know that they have conveyed the messages of their Lord.”

And Noah said:

“But I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds.”

“I convey to you the messages of my Lord.”

In Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Jābir relates that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to say at the gathering:

“Will no man take me to his people so that I may convey the speech of my Lord? Quraysh have prevented me from conveying the speech of my Lord.”

Since this understanding was firmly established in the listeners’ hearts, they knew that Allah Most High’s words,

“And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the speech of Allah,”

refer only to hearing it from those who convey it, not to hearing it directly from Him. Such hearing is not like Moses hearing Allah’s speech from Allah, for Moses heard it from Him without an intermediary. When we hear the speech of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—from the Companions, our hearing is not like that of the Companions