rendering it barren, free from vegetation, then He brings it back to life when it produces. He
brings to life His Sunnah by causing His prophets to inherit it from their predecessors, and He
causes the death of innovations through the life of knowledge.
Once the Messenger of Allah performed the hajj then stood over the safa, overlooking the
House, the Ka`ba. Then he made three takbeers saying, "There is no god except Allah, the
One and only God; there is no partner with Him; His is the kingdom; to Him is all Praise due;
He brings to life and causes death; in His hand is all goodness, and He can do anything at
all."
Abu Tharr al-Ghifari, may Allah be pleased with him, is quoted as saying that whenever the
Messenger of Allah was ready to go to bed at night, he would say, "In Your Name do we die
and live," and whenever he woke up, he would say, "All Praise is due to Allah Who has
brought us back to life after having caused us to die, and to Him is our final return."
- "Al-Hayy"
The Almighty has said, "... as for the next abode, that most surely is the (real) life, had they
only known!" (Qura'n, 29:64). He has also said, "And rely on the ever-Living Who never
dies" (Qura'n, 25:58).
Life is the antithesis of death. Allah brings life back to a "dead" land: He causes vegetation to
grow in it; He brings it life through rain. When we discuss it as an Attribute of the Almighty,
it means that He is the ever-Living Who is self-Sustaining since time immemorial and will
continue to be so forever. Every living being besides Him is not alive on its own; it does not
by itself sustain its life; rather, its life is sustained by al-Hayy. Al-Hayy never dies. The Holy
Qura'n states the following in Surat al-Zumar: "Surely you shall die, and so shall
they" (Qura'n, 39:30).
Al-Hayy is the Doer, the Aware; any deed without an origin or an awareness is dead. The least
degrees of awareness is awareness of one's own self. Anything which is not aware by itself is
a dead inanimate object. Allah is the Absolute Living One, and everyone and everything that
live besides Him is alive according to the extent of its awareness.
Anas ibn Malik has said, "I was once sitting with the Messenger of Allah in our circle when a
man was still performing his prayers. After having bowed down, prostrated and made the
tashahhud, he supplicated to his Lord saying, Lord! I plead to You by the very fact that to You is all Praise due; there is no god but You; You are the One Who gives without reminding the takers, Who created the heavens and the earth; O You Who has all the Honour and all the Glory! O ever-Living One, O Sustainer! I plead to You...' whereupon the Prophet said,He
surely has invoked Allah by His Greatest Attribute: He answers favourably when He is asked
thereby, and He gives when invoked.'"