"I'm very busy" has become a polite way of avoiding people. Between work and screens, fewer of us stop to listen properly. A piece by Prothom Alo's religion desk presents attentive listening as part of the example, the sunnah, of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
It recalls Khawla bint Tha'labah, an ordinary woman of Madinah. A victim of zihar, a cruel custom of the time, she came to the Prophet pleading to save her marriage, speaking so softly that Aisha, sitting nearby, could not hear all of it (Sunan Ibn Majah, hadith 188). The first verse of Surah Al-Mujadilah was revealed in answer: God has indeed heard the woman who pleaded with you.
Receiving revelation, governing, judging disputes and teaching, the Prophet was among the busiest people in history. Yet when a child, an old man or a helpless woman came to him, he never said he had no time (Sahih Bukhari, hadith 6061).
When someone spoke to him, he did not merely lend an ear but turned his whole body towards them (Shama'il at-Tirmidhi, hadith 8), so that each person felt they were the one he loved most (Sunan Tirmidhi, hadith 2711).
The piece observes that we often listen to reply rather than to understand, while someone sharing a burden usually wants no solution, only to be heard without judgement. Becoming a patient, sympathetic listener, it says, is one of the best ways to follow the Prophet's character in a noisy age.
Photo: Jubair1985 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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