Episode 1In us
We spend about a third of life asleep.
But: Without sleep we fail within days.
The 99 Names · Name 63 of 99 · Capacity
الْقَيُّومُal-Qayyūm
The Self-Subsisting Sustainer of all
Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 2:255.
Heard together with: al-Ḥayy / al-Qayyūm
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
Episode 2In nature
Frigatebirds on 10-day flights slept ~42 minutes a day (Rattenborg et al. 2016).
Episode 3At our best
ISS continuously crewed since 2 Nov 2000; the Sun's 3.828 × 10²⁶ W.
But: The ISS is resupplied and re-boosted; the Sun burns its own fuel.
Episode 4The Break
Take away fuel, rest, maintenance, support beneath.
Everything is held up. al-Qayyūm is not held up.
From the tradition: Muslim (API 445): 'the Exalted and Mighty God does not sleep, and it does not befit Him to sleep'. Bukhari 1120: 'You are the Holder (qayyim) of the heavens and the earth'.
On screen
—
Where it shows up
- In scripture
- Q 2:255; 3:2; 20:111; Ps 121:4.
- The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture
- Ps 121:4 'the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps'; Col 1:17 'in him all things are held together' (Christian, of Christ). Strong.
- In the universe
- Sun's luminosity (IAU).
- In nature
- Sleep: PBS 'Octopus Dreaming'.
- In people
- Night-shift workers who keep hospitals running, by rota, because no one can stay awake.
- In science
- Thermodynamics: every ordered system needs a continuous energy input.
Watch and listen
Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.
Sources for this page
hadith-api eng-bukhari 1120; sefaria