al-Ākhir

The Last, who remains after all

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Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 57:3.

Heard together with: al-Awwal / al-Ākhir / aẓ-Ẓāhir / al-Bāṭin

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

We end.

But: Every human story has a last page.

Episode 2

In nature

Greenland shark centuries.

Episode 3

At our best

Proton decay never observed: Super-Kamiokande sets the lifetime for p→e⁺π⁰ above 2.4 × 10³⁴ years (arXiv 2010.16098).

But: Even protons may not be for ever; physics is Open here.

Episode 4

The Break

Take away ending, decay, a last moment.

Asimov imagined a computer that outlasts the universe. al-Ākhir doesn't outlast anything; He is not inside the race.

Read: 57:3; 55:27.

From the tradition: Muslim 2713a 'Thou art the Last and there is naught after Thee'; Psalm 102:27–28 'They shall perish, but You shall endure… Your years never end'.

On screen

In Asimov's story a creature survives the end and becomes the beginning. al-Awwal and al-Ākhir are one Name-pair: He was First without being made.

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 57:3; 55:26–27; Ps 102:27–28.
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Isa (peace be upon him) 44:6; Ps 102:27–28; Rev 22:13. Strong.
In the universe: Heat death / far future of the universe.
In nature: —
In people: Last words and legacies.
In science: Entropy; proton lifetime limits.