al-Muhaymin

The Ever-Watchful Guardian over all things

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Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 59:23.

Heard together with: al-Muʾmin / al-Muhaymin

Start with what we know

Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us. It is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

A night nurse: a 12-hour shift, then sleep

But: Attention lapses within minutes (vigilance decrement); sleep is not optional

Episode 2

In nature

Frigatebirds on flights of 'up to ten days' slept about 42 minutes a day, one brain hemisphere at a time (Rattenborg et al., Nat. Commun. 2016)

Episode 3

At our best

NASA's Deep Space Network: three complexes (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra) 'strategically equidistant for full coverage', so some antenna always faces each spacecraft

But: Needs three continents, staff, power, maintenance; it watches only what we launched

Episode 4

The Break

Take away shifts, sleep, rotation of the Earth, a field of view.

Not a watch that never ends its shift, but watching that has no shifts.

Read: Q 59:23 (al-Muhaymin); the same word describes the Qur'an as 'a criterion over' earlier scripture (5:48)

From the tradition: Muslim 179a: 'God does not sleep, and it does not befit Him to sleep'. Psalm 121:4 'neither slumbers nor sleeps'

On screen

Juvenal asked who guards the guards. al-Muhaymin is the answer that needs no guard.

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 59:23; 2:255; 5:48. Psalm 121:4
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Weak-moderate. Psalm 121:4
In the universe: NASA Deep Space Network, three sites around the globe
In nature: Library gap: no frigatebird film in; Max Planck Society release (2016) has footage
In people: Hospital night staff; coastguard watch
In science: Neuroscience: unihemispheric sleep in birds and dolphins

Living it

Watch over what you are trusted with

Its kind

Act: something done: mercy shown, provision given, a prayer answered.

In the Qur'an: 59:23 (also used of the Qur'an, 5:48)

Sources for this page

nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn; (Rattenborg 2016; Muslim 179a); sefaria.org Ps 121:4; api.quran.com