The Ninety-Nine Names · the 63rd name
الْقَيُّوم
Al-Qayyum
The Self-Subsisting, upon whom all else stands
- The rootق و م
- From the rootqama: to stand; qayyum is the one who stands and by whom everything else stands
The essay
The form is intensive twice over. He stands by Himself, needing nothing to hold Him up, and everything else stands by Him. Remove Him from the picture for an instant and there is no picture. The Throne verse pairs it with Al-Hayy and the two together are the Qur'an's tightest statement of what God is: alive without being given life, and holding without being held.
In the Qur'an
ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلۡحَيُّ ٱلۡقَيُّومُۚ لَا تَأۡخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٞ وَلَا نَوۡمٞۚ
Allah, there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting. No drowsiness takes Him, nor sleep.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
You are not self-made. Nothing is. The only question is whether you know what you are standing on.
Read beside it