Combining Supplication with God’s Names

Incorporating God’s beautiful names, particularly those associated with prayer and response, into supplication is beneficial. Accordingly, the two noble names, “All-Hearing” (Samīʿ) and “All-Knowing” (ʿAlīm), are mentioned here.

Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, when addressing the question of whether “All-Hearing” (Samīʿ) and “All-Seeing” (Baṣīr) relate back to “All-Knowing” (ʿAlīm) or stand as independent attributes, chose to associate them with the name “Ever-Living” (Ḥayy). He holds that God is eternally All-Hearing and All-Seeing. However, the titles “Hearer” (Sāmiʿ) and “Seer” (Mubṣir), which imply the role of “Perceiver” (Mudrik), are classified among the eternal attributes, as perception requires a perceiver. A detailed exploration of this theological point, however, belongs to another field.