Al-Baqi

The root. Al-Baqi comes from b-q-y, a root meaning to remain or endure after other things have passed — baqā' is the noun for continued existence, and bāqī is the active participle, "the one who remains." The root is regularly set against fanā', passing away or ceasing to exist, so that the word carries its meaning most sharply in contrast: not simply lasting a long time, but continuing to exist after everything measured against it has stopped.

What it means here. Al-Baqi is read as existence without any possible end — not merely outliving creation the way something durable outlives something fragile, but existing in a category no created thing shares, since everything else that exists does so on borrowed time and will eventually cease. It is read closely with Al-Awwal and Al-Akhir, "the First" and "the Last," though it adds something those names do not on their own: not just standing outside the two ends of created time, but remaining actively, without the concept of ending applying to Him at all.

Where it is met. The exact word Al-Baqi does not appear as a name of Allah in the Quran. What comes closest is Surah An-Nahl 16:96: "Whatever you have will end, but what Allah has is lasting" — bāqin describing what is with Allah rather than naming Allah Himself directly with this word. The verse states the underlying idea plainly, contrasting the fleeting with what does not fade, even though the title itself is drawn by the tradition from this contrast rather than from a verse applying the noun-form name to Allah.