Are you listening?

One of the greatest complaints that almost everybody has with each other is.... 'Why don't you listen to me?'

Communications has gone beyond dimensions of what man could perceive some years back... so lets go forward with it but not without inter-personal skills. Here's what we find from some extinguinshed people of the past and how they valued it.

'If a person starts telling you, whether in private or public, something that you already knew very well, you should pretend as if you do not know it. Do not rush to reveal your knowledge or to interfere with the speech. Instead, show your attention and concentration.'

Ata bin Abi Rabah, one of the Great Muslim Scholars of the past who lived nearly 1100 years ago said: "A young man would tell me something that I may have heard before he was born. Nevertheless, I would listen to him as if I had never heard it before."

 Khalid bin Safwan al-Tamimi, who frequented the courts of two Great Caliphs: Umar bin Abdul Aziz (719 CE) and Hisham bin Abdul Malik, said: "If a person tells you something you have heard before, or news that you already learned, do not interrupt him to exhibit your knowledge to those present. This is rude and ill mannered."

Abdullah bin Wahab al-Qurashi, a companion of some of the Greatest Scholars of past said:

 "Sometimes a person would tell me a story that I have heard before his parents had wed. Yet, I listened as if I have never heard it before." Ibrahim ibn al-Junaid said: "A wise man once told his son: 'Learn the art of listening as you learn the art of speaking.'" Listening well means maintaining eye contact, allowing the speaker to finish the spech, and restraining your urge to interrupt his speech.

So listening is really an art that doesn't come unless we learn and try to master it! Are you listening?

 Khatib al-Baghdadi said in a poem:

Never interrupt a talk Though you know it inside out

 Edited and Adapted from Awakening Publications

Comments

Add New Search RSS

Write comment
Name:
Title:

Powered by JoomlaCommentCopyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.Homepage: http://cavo.co.nr/