Al-Muqît: The Maintainer

".... Allah maintains all things" (4:85).

The Maintainer maintains creatures by keeping them in an existing state. This requires both knowledge and power. The argument for this interpretation is in the words of Allah, "Allah maintains all things," (4:85)--that is to say, Allah is knowledgeable of and has power over everything. The meaning of the Maintainer would then refer back to what is meant by power and knowledge. In terms of this meaning, the quality of the Maintainer is more complete than the quality of the Able (Al-Qâdir) alone and the Knower (Al-`Alîm) alone because it indicates a composite of the other meanings. Therefore this name is not synonymous with either of these two.