Reading through the last few chapters of Qur’an, trying to finish before Ramadan so that I can start a new round of Qur’an reading with the first day of the beloved month, I came across Surat Annajem (the star) and I remembered the story of the prophet (SAW) surprising the non-believers, one day, by reciting this Surah out load around the Ka'abah. Taken by surprise they just listened and at the end of the Surah when he recited: "Do ye then wonder at this recital. And will ye laugh and not weep. Wasting your time in vanities. But fall ye down in prostration to God and adore (Him)." They literally prostrated. Yes all of them, even those who were the worst enemies of the new message. Yet somehow when they listened, it touched their heart and couldn't afford but to do what Allah ordered them to; prostrate. I remembered this story and wondered; why is it that despite I believe in this message that I don't feel this strong urge to prostrate every single time I read the Surah. I believe that I read but I don't listen. Allah talks to us through his book but do we really listen. Do we give him our undivided attention? Those non-believers listened and thus Allah's words touched their hearts. Still reflecting, I remembered that scholars of Sufism said that the sense with the most access to the heart is listening. We need to listen to Allah, to our heart and our intuition. Unless we take the time to listen we won't ever do what Allah wants us to be doing even if we know it and we won't address our soul's needs even if we complain about it all the time. We need to listen to each other to open the gates of our hearts to what others feel and may fail to say. Otherwise, we won't be able to love each other.
