Al-Baqi

The Everlasting, whose existence has no end. Allah Almighty says: "And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour." (Ar-Rahman, 27) "There is no deity except Him. Everything will be destroyed except His Face. His is the judgement, and to Him you will be returned." (Al-Qasas, 88) Everything besides the Truth is perishing — that is, in its essence it admits of annihilation. Had Allah not turned His gaze upon it and clothed it with the garment of existence through His grace, the honour of existence would not have been possible for it. It would have remained in the state it was in and would not have come forth. So it is only after the Truth's gaze upon it that it passed into the realm of existence and did not remain in the non-existence that was fixed for it in itself. Everything besides His essence, every existing thing, is in essence non-existence — because the existence of everything besides Him is not from itself but rests upon Allah Most High, and so, admitting annihilation at every moment and being ready for it, it is in essence non-existent, or will become so. Only He is living in His essence, without beginning and without end, existing by Himself. The judgement is His and no other's. The judgement of all those who attempt to legislate and make laws besides Him is overturned; only His is not overturned. And to Him you will all be returned: after your death you will all be brought before Him, judged, and receive whatever your punishment or reward may be. The end of all the accounts is this judgement: "And to Him you will be returned." Who would dare not to submit to this judgement? The meanings of the name Al-Baqi: Allah's existence admits of non-existence in no respect. He is the only being whose existence has neither beginning nor end. Allah is Everlasting through His own permanence, while beings can exist only through His causing their existence to continue. Allah's being Al-Baqi means that He is an eternal being possessing a life that never dies. All beings will pass away; only His existence will continue. All beings within the universe have an end. A person is born, lives, and dies at the end of the limited span he passes in this world. This end is inescapable for all people. Like people, the plant and animal kingdoms too must inevitably pass away; they too die one by one some time after being born. A tree, for example, may live for hundreds of years upon the earth, but in the end it is destined to die. Everything living will exhaust its life, go beneath the earth and pass away. Likewise, lifeless things too have an end. Time displays its wearing effect upon them all. We see, for instance, that of peoples who lived in splendour thousands of years ago only ruins remain today. Just as the beings living within it have an end, the universe too has an end. All the heavenly bodies, stars and suns in the universe will one day exhaust their energy and pass away — or Allah will destroy the whole universe for another reason He wills and fulfil His promise concerning the Day of Resurrection. As can be seen, everything is finite: the universe and all created beings. Allah, however, is the Creator. And eternity belongs to Him alone.

The noble name Al-Baqi is recited 113 times as "Ya Baqi, jalla jalaluhu" for a healthy, blessed and long life, and for one's property and work to endure. Whoever recites the noble name Al-Baqi 1,000 times, saying "Ya Baqi, jalla jalaluhu", is delivered from harm and sorrow, and his deeds are accepted.