Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, continued explaining the names of Allah during his Ramadan program Grand Imam At-Tayyeb Talk, so he dealt with Allah’s two names As-Samīˁ (All-Hearing) and Al-Baṣīr (All-Seeing). He explained that they are two of the names that are always mentioned in conjunction with each other. As an attribute of Allah, As-Samīˁ means that Allah, Exalted be He, hears everything audible, and Al-Baṣīr means that He sees everything visible, all at the same time. Both names are attributes of perfection and their opposites cannot be ascribed to Allah, Glory be to Him.

The Grand Imam made it clear that a Muslim must be certain and cautious at the same time that Allah’s attributes are eternal, so he must not think that an attribute was not existent and then came into being later. 

In response to a question: “How do the names As-Samīˁ and Al-Baṣīr work as attributes of hearing and sight before there were creatures to be heard or seen?” The Grand Imam explained that all the attributes of Allah Almighty are eternal; they have no beginning, hence they have no end. Allah Almighty is Eternal; if not, He would have needed another god to bring Him to existence, , and the other supposed god would have needed a third god, and so on. This is what atheists claim about Allah, Exalted be He, but what they say is impossible to apply to Allah. His Eminence wonders how atheists believe such illogical claims that contradict the mind. He said that a great part of atheism is due to obstinacy and arrogance. 

The Grand Imam added that attributes are related to existent things, whether they exist or not. Before they existed, the relationship between the attribute and the respective existent is a relation of validity or readiness, which means that the attribute is there, since it is eternal, ready to interact with the existents once they come into being. Allah’s ability for instance brings something from non-existence into existence. Thus, because it is eternal, its relationship to that thing before it existed was one of validity. Allah’s ability is valid to bring something into existence according to Allah’s will when it is time for Him to act. The relationship between Allah’s ability and that thing is also one of achievement. Similarly, the same thing applies to the attributes As-Samīˁ (All-Hearing) and Al-Baṣīr (All-Seeing) when it comes to their relationship to what is heard or seen.