Among the stations of “You we worship and You we supplicate for help” is the station of listening or hearing (al-samāʿ). It is a verbal noun like al-nabāt. Allah has commanded it in His book, and praised those who do it, and declaimed that theirs is the glad tiding. He the Exalted has said, “And fear Allah and listen” [5:108]. He also said, “And listen and obey” [64:16]. He also said, “And if they had said [instead], ‘We listen and obey’ and ‘Wait for us [to understand],’ it would have been better for them and more suitable” [4:46]. He also said, “So give good tidings to My servants, those who listen to the Word, and follow the best [meaning] in it: those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding” [39:17–18]. He also said, “And when the Qurʾan is recited, listen to it and pay attention that you may receive mercy” [7:204]. He also said, “And when they listen to what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes brimming with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, ‘Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses’ ” [5:83]. He has made His causing someone to hear an evidence of some good in them, and their inability to accept an evidence of lack of good, saying, “Had Allah known any good in them, He would have made them hear. And if He had made them hear, they would [still] have turned away in rejection” [8:23]. He declaimed concerning His enemies that they have abandoned hearing and prohibited [others] from it, “And the disbelievers said, ‘Hear not this Recitation and make noise in it that you may gain the upper hand’ ” [41:26].
Hearing is the messenger of faith to the heart, and its preacher and teacher. How often He says in the Qurʾan, “Do they not, then, hear?” He also said, “So have they not traveled through the earth, so that they [acquire] hearts with which to reason and ears with which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts” [22:46]. Thus, hearing [attentively, or listening,] is the foundation of reason, and the basis of faith upon which it is built; it is its precursor, companion, and assistant. But the real problem is the content of what is listened to, and here people have fallen into confusion and disagreement, and many have erred. The essence of listening is drawing the heart’s attention to the meaning of what has been heard and its movement in response in aspiration or fear, love or hatred, for [the heart] is the caravan leader that drives everyone to its home and retreat.
Among those who listen there is one who listens only to his nature, ego, and desire, and his share from what he hears is only that which pleases his nature. Another listens to his state, faith, inner knowledge, and reason, and such a one is enlightened in proportion to his ability, strength, and his make-up. Another listens by Allah and by nothing else—as stated in a sound Divine Hadith, “Until by Me he hears and by Me he sees.” (Bukhārī #6502) This is the noblest form of hearing and the most truthful of all.
The discourse on hearing, be it its praise or dispraise, requires knowing the form of what is heard and its reality, its cause and motivation, and its fruit and goal. The case of hearing is investigated in these three parts and the beneficial separated from the harmful, the truth from falsehood, the praiseworthy from the blameworthy.
As for the substance of what is listened to, it may be of three kinds. First, that which Allah loves and is pleased with, and has required of His servants, and praises and is pleased with those who partake in it. Second, that which Allah hates and is wroth with and has prohibited for His servants, and has praised those who avoid it. Third, that which is neutral and permitted, which He neither loves nor hates, and has neither praised its doer nor dispraised. Its ruling is like the ruling of all the things to which the Law is indifferent, such as things that are seen, smelled, tasted, and worn. Whoever makes this third kind impermissible has spoken on Allah’s behalf without knowledge and prohibited what Allah has permitted. Whoever takes this as part of his religiosity seeking to draw near to Allah through it has lied upon Allah, and created a religion for himself, and in that respect rivals the associationists.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Madarij al-Salikin Ranks of the Divine Seekers Vol 2 p100-102
honey for the heart 