The First and the Last: God's Eternity in the Quran

There is a moment in the Quran when God names Himself with two words that seem to fold all of time into a single breath: al-Awwal (the First) and al-Akhir (the Last). In [57:3], we read that He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward, and that He knows all things. These names invite a simple but profound question: what does it mean for God to stand before everything that began and after everything that ends? This dossier walks through the passages of the Quran that answer that question, tracing the key Arabic words that carry the meaning and showing how they connect to one another like the facets of a single jewel.

Two Names That Hold All of Time

The direct source of our theme is [57:3], a verse situated in Surah Al-Hadid ("The Iron"), a surah that repeatedly reminds believers that this world's life is fleeting. The verse gathers four names in a pair of pairs: al-Awwal — an adjective form meaning "the First," the one before whom there was nothing — and al-Akhir, "the Last," the one after whom there will be nothing. Alongside them stand az-Zahir (the Outward, the Manifest) and al-Batin (the Inward, the Hidden). Taken together, they say that God surrounds reality in every direction we can imagine: before, after, outside, inside. The verse closes with wa huwa bi-kulli shay'in 'alim — "and He is Knowing of all things" — linking God's eternity to His perfect knowledge.

The Living, the Self-Subsisting

The most famous verse of the Quran, known as Ayat al-Kursi, develops the same picture in [2:255]. Here God is described as al-Hayy (the Ever-Living) and al-Qayyum (the Self-Subsisting Sustainer of all). These two words explain why He is the First and the Last: everything else lives by borrowing, while He lives by Himself; everything else is held up, while He holds up. The verse adds that neither drowsiness nor sleep can seize Him, and that His knowledge embraces what is before and what is behind. Its final words — wa huwa al-'Aliyy al-'Azim, "and He is the Most High, the Most Great" — echo the sense of a being who cannot be surpassed. The same pair of names opens [3:2], where God declares Himself the Ever-Living and the Self-Subsisting, affirming the revelation in truth.

Everything Perishes Except His Face

The Quran is strikingly honest about impermanence. In [55:26-27], Surah Ar-Rahman asks: everyone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Dhu al-Jalal wa al-Ikram, "the Possessor of Majesty and Honor." The key verb here is halak — to perish, to pass away — and its opposite is baqiya, to remain. This pair frames the whole theme: to say God is the Last is to say He remains when everything else has gone. A parallel passage, [28:88], makes the point personal and practical: do not call upon any other god, for there is no god but He; everything will perish except His Face; His is the judgment, and to Him you will be returned. The two words kullu shay'in — "every thing" — appear in both passages, underlining that the exception is absolute.

The Owner of the Domain and the Turn of Fortune

The Quran also connects eternity to sovereignty. In [3:26], God is addressed as Malik al-Mulk — "Master of the Sovereignty" — the One who gives dominion to whom He wills and takes it away, who honors and abases. The following verse, [3:27], continues: You bring the night into the day and the day into the night, and You bring the living out of the dead. The rotation of day and night becomes a visible lesson in the rotation of all fortunes: powers rise and fall, but the One who turns the wheel does not. This is why the name al-Awwal carries comfort, not just philosophy: whatever happens in history, the One who began it still governs its end.

No Vision Can Grasp Him

Eternity also implies that God exceeds every human measure. In [6:103], we read that no vision can grasp Him — la tudrikuhu al-absar — but that He grasps all vision, wa huwa al-latif al-khabir, "the Subtle, the Acquainted." The verb adraka means to perceive or overtake: our sight cannot overtake Him, but He fully perceives ours. In the same spirit, [42:11] states that there is nothing like unto Him — laysa ka-mithlihi shay' — and that He is the Hearing, the Seeing. And [20:110] quietly gathers the theme together: faces are humbled before the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, and He knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, while they cannot encompass Him in knowledge. God's "firstness" and "lastness" are not positions in time as we know it; they are a way of saying He is not measurable by the categories He created.

Knowledge That Spans Before and After

Several passages tie God's eternity to the span of His knowledge. In [22:76], He knows what is before them — ma bayna aydihim, literally "what is between their hands," an Arabic idiom for the future — and what is behind them, and to Him all matters return. The same idiom appears in [2:255] and [20:110], showing a consistent Quranic vocabulary: the future lies "before" us and God knows it entirely. In [34:23], intercession itself is placed in perspective: none may intercede except by His permission, showing that even the greatest mediation depends on the One who is First and Last. And [20:114], which commands the Prophet to be patient and not to hurry in reciting before the revelation is completed, opens with a remarkable address: wa ta'ala Allah al-Malik al-Haqq — "and exalted is Allah, the King, the True." Patience before the Quran's text mirrors trust in the One outside of time.

He Is With You Wherever You Are

Being the First and the Last does not make God distant. In [57:4], just after the verse of our theme, the Quran says He is with you wherever you are, and that He sees whatever you do. In [50:16], He is nearer to the human being than his jugular vein. In [2:186], a verse that answers those who ask about His nearness, He declares: I am near — inni qarib — and I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me. The word qarib (near) stands beside the names al-Awwal and al-Akhir in a beautiful tension: God is before all ages and after all ages, yet nearer to you than your own pulse. Likewise, [2:115] teaches that wherever you turn, there is the Face of God — again the word wajh, face, used for His enduring presence.

The Divine Names Close the Circle

Toward the end of Surah Al-Hashr, [59:22-24] presents a cascade of divine names: He is Allah besides whom there is no god, the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed; He is ar-Rahman (the Most Merciful) and ar-Rahim (the Bestower of Mercy); the King, the Holy, the Source of Peace; and He is the Creator, the Originator, the Fashioner. Surah Al-Ikhlas, [112:1-4], compresses the same doctrine into four short verses: God is One; He is as-Samad — a word meaning the One sought by all, the Independent whom all depend upon; He neither begets nor is begotten; and there is none comparable to Him. The refusal of begetting and birth in [112:3] is another way of affirming His firstness: He has no beginning because He was not born, and no end because He does not pass away.

A World That Began and Will Be Folded

The Quran repeatedly reminds us that the created order itself is recent and temporary. In [21:104], the day comes when the heaven will be folded like the folding of a scroll for the writings — the verb tawiyya, to fold or roll up — just as He began the first creation, He will repeat it. In [28:88] and [55:26-27], already cited, the perishing of all things is announced. Even the great figures of the past are gathered into this perspective: in [85:12-17], the story of Pharaoh and Thamud is told to remind the listener that God's grip is firm and that His plan unfolds across generations. Time, in the Quran, is like a page: it is written, it is turned, and the Writer remains.

He Created, Then He Is Worshiped

The opening of revelation itself, [96:1-5], begins with the word iqra', "read," and announces that the Lord created the human being. Creation comes first in the story, yet the Creator was not waiting for a story to begin. In [36:78-83], when a skeptical man asks who can give life to bones when they are disintegrated, the answer comes: the One who produced them the first time — alladhi ansha'a awarra marra — and He is, of every creation, Knowing. The verse ends with the majestic word kun — "Be" — and it is. The One who can say "Be" is the One who was before the word was ever spoken. This is the practical heart of the theme: faith in the First and Last turns anxiety about beginnings and endings into trust in the One who holds them both.

The Return to the Ever-Living

The theme resolves in the direction of return. In [92:13], the Quran states that to God belongs the Hereafter and the first life — inna ilayna al-akhirata wa al-ula — using the same root pair as al-Awwal and al-Akhir. In [92:18-20], the one who gives wealth is purified by the Face of his Lord, the Most High. And in [28:70], the whole circle closes: He is Allah; there is no god except Him; to Him belongs praise in the first life and in the Hereafter; His is the judgment, and to Him you will be returned. The Arabic word al-ula (the first, life) and al-akhira (the last, the Hereafter) are built on the same roots as the names of [57:3]. Human life itself is bracketed by the First and the Last.

To hold these passages together is to feel the shape of the Quran's teaching: God is before the beginning, after the end, present in the middle, and untouched by the passing of all things. The names al-Awwal and al-Akhir are not abstract titles for thinkers; they are an invitation. Because He remains, the believer can loosen the grip on what does not remain, and turn with confidence to the One whose Face endures when every face on earth has perished.