Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Divine Perspective on Rights Right n. 4: The Right of Hearing حق السمع وَأَمَّا حَقُّ السَّمْعِ فَتَنْزِيهُهُ عَنْ أَنْ تَجْعَلَهُ طَرِيقًا إلَى قَلْبكَ إلا لِفُوهَةٍ كَرِيمَةٍ تُحْدِثُ فِي قَلبكَ خَيْرًا أَو تَكْسِبُ خُلُقًا كَرِيمًا فَإنَّهُ بَابُ الْكَلامِ إلَى الْقَلْب يُؤَدِّي إلَيْهِ ضُرُوبُ الْمَعَانِي عَلَى مَا فِيهَا مِن خَيْرٍ أَو شَرِّ. وَلا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.
And the right of hearing is to keep it pure by not making it the direct pathway to your heart, except for noble words that establish some good in your heart or grant you a noble trait. Indeed hearing is the gateway through which various concepts reach the heart —whether good or evil.
And there is no power but in God ***.***[^1] The Almighty God said: قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ قَلِيلاً مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ “Say: It is He who has created you (and made you grow), and made for you the faculties of hearing, seeing, feeding and understanding.
Little thanks it is ye give.” [The Holy Qur’an, al-Mulk 67:23] The Role of Hearing in Development When man is born, he is not familiar with the creatures in this world, but he slowly gets acquainted with them. One of the means of acquiring such recognition is the faculty of hearing. We hear things and they are recorded in our minds. Imam Ali said to someone seeking advice: أيها السائل! إِسْتَمِعْ ثُمّ اسْتَفْهِم ثُمَّ اسْتَيْقِنْ ثُمَّ اسْتَعْمِلْ. “O questioner!
Listen first, and then understand. Then believe and put what you have learned into practice.” [^2] Thus, we realize that the key to understanding, believing and putting things into practice is our hearing. Therefore, hearing can be considered our social sense, and in this sense, it can be considered more important than seeing. What is sound? Sound is produced from vibration. Human voice is the product of the vibration of our vocal cords.
It has been proven that sound will not be transmitted in a vacuum. However, we should not think that air is the only media for the transmission of sound. Sound can be propagated in liquids, gases and solids. It propagates in liquids faster than in gases. Solids propagate sound even faster than liquids do. There are three parts to the ear: the external ear, middle ear and inner ear. The external ear consists of the pinna[^3] and the ear canal.