Al Hayy Al Qayyum: The Ever Living – The Sustainer الحي القيوم
These are two of Allaah’s names, which comprises the perfection of attributes and actions.
The name: “AL-Hayye” comprises the perfection of attributes, and “Al-Qayyoum” the perfection of actions.
Al-Hayye:
The meaning of Al-Hayye is the One Who possesses the perfect living.
In fact, if we consider man’s life, we find it imperfect because it originates in (non-existence) and ends by death. It is also imperfect as far as man’s attributes and actions are concerned. For his hearing, sight, sayings, and actions are all imperfect. As such, man’s life is imperfect. However, with respect to Allaah, Most Mighty and Majestic, His life is perfect, preceded neither by nonexistence nor by coming to naught. Allaah, Most High, says:
قال الله تعالى: {كلُّ َمنْ عَلَيْهَا َفانٍ وَيَبْقَى َو ْجهُ رَِّبكَ ذُو الجَلالِ والإ كرَام} الرحمن،٢٧-٢٦
Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish, and the Face of Your Rabb, full of Majesty and Honour, will abide forever. [Ar-Rahmaan, 55:26-27].
The true aspect of Allaah’s perfection lies not only in the fact that creation will perish but also in the endless existence of Allaah, the Most Mighty and Most Majestic. In addition, Allaah’s Life is one, which is accompanied neither by annihilation nor by nonexistence. (1)
قال الله تعالى:{ كلُّ شيءٍ هالكُ إلاَّ وَ ْجهَه } القصص،٨٨
Everything will perish save His Face. [ Al-Qasas, 28:88].
و قال الله تعالى: { و توكل على الحي الذي لا يموت} الفرقان 58
“And put your hopes and reliance in the the Ever Living , Who will never die” [Al-Furqan, 25:58].
Only Allah the Ever Living is worth to be worshipped, anyone who is now living will end by dying, or anyone who is dead, does not deserve to be worshipped.
How can you put your hopes and your reliances in someone who will eventually die, and even during his life, he is weak from every way, weak in his strength, his knowledge, his wisdom, his seeing, his hearing, his will, his mercy. So, put your reliance and your hopes and your love only in Allah, the Ever Living, Who will never die.
قال الله تعالى: {هو الحي لا إله إلا هو فادعوه مخلصين له الدين، الحمد لله رب العالمين} غافر 65
“He is the Ever Living (La Ilaha Ila Howa), so invoke Him, and worship Him, making your worship pure for Him alone, and none else, by doing the righteous deeds sincerely for Allah’s sake only. All praise and thanks are for Allah, the Lord of the creation.” [Ghafir, 40: 65]
ِAl-Qayyoum:
The name Al-Qayyoum means the One Who is established on His Own, Self-subsisting, by Whom all things subsist. He sustains, protects, prepares, and runs the affairs of all things as He wills in accordance with His Knowledge, Wisdom, and Justice.
قال الله تعالى: { أفَمَن هُوَ قائمُ على كلِّ نفسٍ بما كسَبَت } الرعد،٣٣
Is He (Allaah) Who takes charge (guards, maintains, provides, etc.) of every person and know all that he has earned (like any other deities who know nothing)? [ِArra’d, 13:33].
قال الله تعالى: { وااللهُ غَنِي حَمِيدُ } التغابن،٦
And Allaah is the Rich (Free of all wants), worthy of all praise.[At-Taghabun, 64:6].
So, Allaah is free of any need from all creation. He is Self-subsisting. He needs neither food nor drink, for He is the One Who feeds but is not fed. He needs not a supporter, nor helper, nor a deputy, nor an advisor. He is established in perfection by Himself. (2)
قال الله تعالى: {و من ءايته أن تقوم السماء و الأرض بأمره} الروم 25
And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command. [ Ar Rum: 25]
Allah is in no need of anyone nor anything, even the Throne. Does Allah need the Throne? no, but the Throne needs Allah. Does Allah need the Angels who hold the Throne? No, but the Angels need Allah. Allah Is the self sufficient, the All Rich. (3)
قال الله تعالى:{ أمن هو قائم على كل نفس بما كسبت و جعلوا لله شركاء قل سموهم} الرعد 33
The one Who establishes and sustains to every soul which have been earned by it, and they made partners to Him, Say: Name your partners. [Ar Ra’d, 13: 33]
Allah is the Sustainer and yet they make partners to Him. So Allah said : “Name your partners”. This is a big challenge. Can anyone name a partner to Allah in provision? Can this partner for example make us digest the food, can make us alive? can he cure us? can he hold these heavens from falling? is there any partner? Subhanallah, and yet they do make rivals, where they make sujood for them, and supplicate to them.
So, when we see this shirk, we need to feel the greatest bounty Allah granted us which is the bounty that Allah guided us to Tawheed, (worshipping only Allah) and the bounty of knowing our Lord, our Creator, Al Hayye Al Qayyum, The Only One worth to be worshipped.
قال الله تعالى: { إن الله يمسك السماوات و الأرض أن تزولا و لئن زالتا إن أمسكهما من أحد من بعده إنه كان حليما غفورا} فاطر 41
“Indeed Allah holds the Heavens and the Earth moving away from their places, and if they were to move away from their places, there is not one who can grasp them after Him. Truly He is The Most Forbearing, The Most Forgiving” [Fatir, 35: 41]
So the Heaven and Earth subsist by His order and His will. Allah controls the entire creation.
Now how can we worship Allah according to our understanding of His names:
It is very important to understand the meanings of Allah’s names in order to be able to praise Him with these names and to supplicate to Him with the names relevant to your needs or to what you are asking Allah for.
For example when you ask His forgiveness you ask Him with His Name the All Forgiving (Al Ghafour) and when you need money you ask Him by His name the All Provider (Al Razzaq).
By understanding the meaning of Allah’s Names Al-Hayye – Al-Qayyum we will be able to supplicate to Him with our hearts, knowing why are we asking Allah by these specific names.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم whenever he faced any hardship he used to supplicate Allah with these two names, as reported by Anas Ibn Malik who said:
“كان النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم إذا كربه أمر قال: يا حي يا قيوم برحمتك أستغيث”
“Ya Hayye – Ya Qayyum , I take refuge in Your mercy.” (3)
Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says:
His Name Al-Hayye, The attribute of life includes all the perfect attributes of Allah’s Essence, Himself, like Hearing, Seeing, Wisdom. His name Al Qayyum includes all the perfect attributes of His actions, like creating, provision, curing, aiding. So you ask Allah with His name Al-Hayye Al-Qayyum, to restore any weakness of your life, meaning any weakness in your health, or your seeing or hearing or any pain which contradicts with the completeness of your life and affects your abilities and actions, and to strengthen you.
(The fact that the people of Paradise will enjoy a perfect life free of illness, pain and any weakness is a result of Allah’s names Al-Hayye Al-Qayyum)
As for the life of your heart, ponder on the supplication Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم used to supplicate when he asked Allah to guide him to the truth:
قال صلى الله عليه و سلم:
“اللهم رب جبريل وميكائيل وإسرافيل فاطر السموات والأرض عالم الغيب والشهادة أنت تحكم بين عبادك فيما كانوا فيه يختلفون اهدني لما اختلف فيه من الحق بإذنك إنك تهدي من تشاء إلى صراط مستقيم” (4)
“Allah, Lord of Gibreel and Mikail and Israfeel, Creator of `the earth and heavens, All Knower of the seen and the unseen, You judge between Your slaves were they differed, guide me to the truth they differed in with Your will, You guide whoever You will to the correct path.”
The Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم asked Him in this supplication by which attribute? by the attribute of Life. He asked Him by His Lordship of the three honorable Angels whom Allah made responsible for the three types of lives:
Jibreel was sent with the Revelation, the Qur’aan, and this is the life of the hearts.
Mikail is responsible for the rain, this is the life of the land and the crops.
Israfeel is responsible to blow the Horn, this is the life of Hereafter when the souls are resurrected.
So, he asked Allah by His Lordship – Rubobiah- to the three noble Angels made responsible for the three types of lives to guide him to the truth.
Accordingly, asking Allah by His names Al-Hayye Al-Qayyum has a great effect in His answering you supplications, and in revealing any difficulties or hardships. (5)
Now we need to know how is this name related to the lives of our hearts? Does your heart need to be alive? Yes, our hearts need to be alive and the life of our heart is to know the truth about Allah, and about the religion of Allah.
Each one of us needs a soul to his body and a soul to his heart in order to be alive. The soul of the body is needed physically so that we can move, eat, drink, walk, sleep etc. What about the soul of the heart? The heart will never be alive except when it knows about Allah.
قال الله تعالى: {أومن كان ميتا فاحييناه وجعلنا له نورا يمشي به في الناس كمن مثله في الظلمات ليس بخارج منها كذلك زين للكافرين ما كانوا يعملون} الأنعام 122
“Is he who was dead (By ignorance and disbelief) and We gave him life (by knowledge and faith) and set for him a light (of Belief) whereby he can walk amongst men _ like him who is in the darkness (of disbelief, polytheism and hypocrisy) from which he can never come out? Thus it is made fair-seeming to the disbelievers that which they used to do.“ [Al An’am, 6: 122]
The first thing the heart needs to be alive is to know about Allah, our Creator. Just think now: A person who worships and makes sujood to a cow, is this heart alive? Imagine worshipping a cow! Definitely this heart is dead. Why dead? because it does not see any truth, it does not comprehend, it does not know Who is worth to be worshipped, loved and submitted to.
So the first thing to make your heart alive is knowledge. Knowledge about Allah, about Allah’s names & attributes, about Qur’aan, about His orders and commands. We need to ask Allah by His name Al-Hayye to grant us knowledge. knowledge about Him and how to worship Him the way which will please Him. I want to know the right thing and the wrong thing, the right deeds to follow and the wrong deeds to abide from. This is the first step.
The second step is will. You now know, so what do you intend to do with this knowledge? Do you have the will to practice what you knew? If yes, this will make your heart alive.
The third step is to make good acts of worship, to obey Allah. Each act of worship you make will make your heart alive.
The fourth step is to be constantly in Allah’s remembrances, always to remember Allah. This remembrance is either by praising Allah or reciting Qur’aan etc, and by refraining from the “Haram”, the prohibited, because you did not refrain except that your heart remembers Allah. This remembrance will make your heart alive.
The Fifth step for your heart to be alive, leave the sins. Try to be away from any sin, any disobedience because any disobedience, any sin affects the life of your heart, it makes it black, or puts a black patch on it.
The sixth step, you want your heart to be clear, you want to remove this blackness? repent and ask Allah for forgiveness. Go back to Allah and repent, so again this black patch on your heart will be removed and it will return white and clear again. (6)
A question: Is there a sign that my heart is alive? Yes. if you commit a sin or any bad act and you feel this pain or pinch in your heart, congratulation, your heart is alive. If the heart is dead or black it will not feel this pain of regret.
So this feeling of pain after a bad act is a bounty from Allah, if you take the opportunity of this feeling and repent immediately, the heart will be healthy and clear again, but, if you ignored this feeling and insisted on doing the bad act, you will be deprived from this light, from this pinch of regret, and your heart will lose its life gradually.
If you do these six steps you will have a healthy alive heart. This heart will enable you to enjoy this life. Because this heart now knows its way. You know the aim of your existence, you know the good from the bad, how to be patient, how to face any hardship (without seeking for it) knowing that Allah will reward you for each minute of pain, a heart free of worries full of hopes, fearing none except Allah.
Since ignorance and sins contradicts with the completeness of the life of your heart, you need to ask Allah The Hayye Al-Qayyum, Who has the complete and perfect attribute of life, to complete the life of your heart by granting you knowledge about Him and by forgiving you in order to restore the life of your heart.
Try always when you say “Ya Hayye – Ya Qayyum” to ponder on the completeness, greatness and perfection of Allah’s life, also ponder on the name Al-Qayyum and see how Allah provides and sustains for us, can you imagine Allah is providing all the creation in this one second, each and everyone of this creation? People, babies in the womb of their mothers, the insects, the birds, the creatures under the sea, the Angels in the heavens in every second, He provides for all these at the same time.
So we can now understand the greatness of these two names, and what they entitles from submission and humbleness to Allah Al-Hayye – Al-Qayyum. (8)
قال الله تعالى: {و عنت الوجوه للحي القيوم و قد خاب من حمل ظلما} طه 111
“And All faces shall be humbled before Allah, AL Hayyul-Qayyum (The Ever Living The One who sustains and protects all the exists). And he who carried a burden of wrongdoing (i.e. who disbelief in Allah or ascribed partners to Him and did deeds of disobedience) will be indeed a complete failure on this day.”[Suratut-Ta-Ha, 20:111]
Anyone coming to Allah on the Resurrection Day with this injust, his face will be submissive and humiliated to Allah, AL Hayyul-Qayyum and surely he will be a loser.
And we ask Allah by His name Al-Hayyul-Qayyum to make our hearts alive by knowing Him and to strengthen our weakness.
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1&2- Tafseer-ayatul-kursi-Shaykh-Ibn-Uthaymeen-Commentary on Imaam ibn Taymeeyah’s Sharhul ’Aqeedatil-Waasitiyyah. translated by DR Salih-As-Salih)
3-Alsunnan & Saheeh Ibn Habban
4- Reported by Muslim
5- Zad Al-Maad – Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim
6- main points from madarij Al-Salikeen Imam Ibn Al_Qayim with my explanation
7 Saheeh Al-Termezi
8- Corrected by Imam Al Albani – Al Selsela Al Saheeha
9- Fiqh Al-Asmaa Al-Husana – Sheikh Abdelrazzaq Al-Badr
