Tag: Islamic theology

Al- Qayyum

 

Light follows darkness

and day follows night.

Ease follows hardship

And there is sweetness in grief.

The slave has lost herself and come to the Master

In depravity, the needing peels away the veil of ego;

so as to know

the slave is not the possessor of self-sufficiency

Al – Qayyum* is only the Master.

 

*The above short piece refers to one of the ‘names’ of Allah, ‘al-qayyum’ which means the one who is utterly and absolutely self-sufficient. In no need of any and thereby also beyond the need or confines of time-space. Muslim theologians say this is the defining quality of the God-head as we understand it, rather than saying for example that God is immortal or eternal as a  ‘defining quality’, though of course we do say God is immortal and eternal. Rather, we say He has ‘sempre-eternity’, i.e., beyond time and therefore beyond ‘eternity’ which is a concept rooted in time. Peace be with you all.

***

Copyright Joymanifest 2013

‘Rida’ = ‘contentment’

Assalamu alaikum (peace be with you)

I wanted to share this talk with you all, my dear readers. It is a deep and wise teaching from the core of Islamic theology…which seems sadly lost among much of our nation today (as the speaker observes at the outset). By God’s grace I have listened to it over the years a few time and each time it like a soothing balm from an enlightened soul. And indeed this feeling is one of the meanings of the famous hadith (sayings of Muhammed);

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah makes easy for him a path to Paradise.”

Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 2646

For indeed true knowledge is a waft of the fragrance of paradise.

Allah bless you all. I hope you get to listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN0_WD-fpEQ