Subject Matter and Relationship with the Previous Sūrah
In the introduction to Sūrah Ikhlās, the previous sūrah, we had explained
that the belief of monotheism is the foundation of Islam. For this reason, the
Almighty began His Book with a mention of this belief and ended it on it too. It
is as if Sūrah Ikhlās is the last sūrah of the Qur’ān. The last two sūrahs
which come after it – the mu‘awwadhatayn – are like two sentinels guarding this
treasure of monotheism. In these two sūrahs, people have been asked to seek
refuge with God from all evils which in any way can distract and divert them
from monotheism.
This elaborate arrangement for monotheism is because, as referred to before,
it is the foundation of religion. If a person is fully grounded in the belief of
monotheism, it is as if he is fully grounded in religion. If temporarily he does
get distracted from any directive of religion, it is hoped that because he is
fully attached to its foundation he will be guided by God’s grace to the right
path. On the contrary, if he is led astray in any way regarding the belief of
monotheism, there is a strong chance that he will keep getting further away from
religion and a time may come that he may reach a point of no return.
The second reason for this elaborate arrangement is that in order to achieve
success in the test in which a person is put through in this world, it is
essential that he fight Satan till his death and defeat him. It is on this
victory over Satan that his success in the Hereafter hinges. The special area in
which Satan has sworn to defeat mankind is monotheism. He has challenged the
Almighty that He will lie in ambush for man on the path of monotheism and will
try to divert him from this path and put him on the path of polytheism. The
Qur’ān mentions his challenge in the following words:
قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ثُمَّ
لآتِيَنَّهُم مِّن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ
وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ وَلاَ تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ (٧:
١٦-١٧)
Satan said: “Because You have led me astray I shall sit in ambush for these
[children of Adam] on Your straight path [of monotheism]. Then I shall launch an
onslaught on them from their front and from their rear and from their right and
from their left. Then You will find a greater part of them ungrateful [deviants
from monotheism].” (7:16-17)
The details of the evil scheme devised by Satan to lure man to polytheism are
mentioned in his own words in Sūrah Nisā’ thus:
إِنَّ اللّهَ
لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء وَمَن
يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً بَعِيدًا إِن يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ
إِلاَّ إِنَاثًا وَإِن يَدْعُونَ إِلاَّ شَيْطَانًا مَّرِيدًا لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ
وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا وَلأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ
وَلأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الأَنْعَامِ
وَلآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللّهِ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ
وَلِيًّا مِّن دُونِ اللّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًا مُّبِينًا (٤:
١١٦-١١٩)
God will never forgive that partners be associated with Him and may forgive
sins other than this for whomsoever He wishes. And He who associates partners
with God has indeed strayed far. Whenever they call upon someone other than God,
they call upon [female deities] and call upon Satan, the rebellious. Rather than
to Him, they pray but to females: they pray but to a rebellious Satan. May God’s
curse be on him for he has said: “I shall lure a specific number of Your
servants and lead them astray. I shall entice them into vain desires and lead
them to slit the ears of cattle and I shall show them the way to tamper with
God’s creation.” And he who chooses Satan rather than God for his protector will
end up in open misfortune. (4:116-119)
This subject is discussed even more comprehensively in Sūrah Banī Isrā’īl
(17:61-65). It might be of benefit to the reader to take a look at the
explanation of these verses in this exegesis
so that all its implications become clear and it becomes evident that the
greatest of Satan’s effort is to entangle man in the noose of polytheism. The
reason is that if man adopts this evil, he will strip himself of God’s mercy and
will never be forgiven. It is through this revenge that the jealousy and hatred
Satan has for mankind is appeased.
In order to combat this evil scheme, arose the need to inform man here at the
end of the Qur’ān of not only a comprehensive teaching of monotheism ,
but also of the best way to protect himself of the lures and machinations of
Satan. It is by adopting this way that every servant of God can protect his
treasure of monotheism from the onslaughts of Satan.
In order to explain this methodology, man is informed of two things: one in
this sūrah and one in the next sūrah.
In this sūrah, man is told that in order to shield himself from the
onslaughts of Satan the only way is to seek refuge with God. There is no one
except God who can protect him from the fraudulent and deceptive measures of
Satan. If man is not vigilant enough all the time, there is a strong chance that
he will be misled by him and then it would become difficult for him to come out
of this situation.
In the next sūrah, man is informed of the attributes of God by means of which
he can attain refuge with God by which he can shield himself from the lures and
baits of Satan. It was only God Himself who could have informed man of these
attributes and it is His great favour on man that He has done so. It is through
His noble attributes that a correct relationship can be established between God
and man and only God knows which of His attributes can act as a shield for man
against the blitz launched by Satan. Man cannot know them of himself and a small
error in this can spoil his efforts.
Another thing which is mentioned in the next sūrah is the extent to which
Satan can lead man astray and the most effective of his methods in this regard.
The purpose is to make man aware of the might of his enemy so that neither is he
over-awed by his strength nor does he become indifferent to him. Moreover, he is
fully informed of the paths from which Satan can attack and is also aware of the
weapons God has given him to combat this enemy of his.
Text and Translation
قُلْ أَعُوذُ
بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ (١) مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ (٢) وَمِنْ شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا
وَقَبَ (٣) وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ (٤) وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ
إِذَا حَسَدَ (٥)
Say: “With the Lord who brings forth I seek refuge from the evil of all that
He has created and from the evil of the night as it spreads and from the evil of
those who blow on knots and from the evil of the envious person when he envies.”
(112:1-5)
Explanation
(١) قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ
(Say: I seek refuge with the Lord who brings forth)
The word الْفَلَقِ (al-falaq) has been generally
translated as “morning”; however, its real meaning is “to tear apart something”.
Since morning appears after tearing apart the shroud of the night, the word al-falaq
is also used for it. However, morning is not the only thing which appears after
a process of tearing apart: everything emerges from something after splitting it
apart. A plant appears from a seed after breaking it apart; vegetation
germinates from the earth after ripping it apart; fountains and rivers sprout
after the mountains are cleft apart. Similarly, off-springs come out from eggs
after slitting them and all living beings emerge from wombs after emerging
through their openings. In the light of this, what is the basis on which one can
restrict the meaning of al-falaq. In this writer’s opinion, keeping in view its
placement and context, it should be interpreted in its wider meaning. In the
Arabic language it is also used thus. Just as the expression (٦:
٩٦) فَالِقُ الإِصْبَاحِ
is used in the Qur’ān; similarly the expression(٦:
٩٥)
فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَى is also used in it. Similarly, about the heavens and earth the
Qur’ān states: كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا (٢١:
٣).
This means that both the heavens and the earth are closed and then are torn
apart. The implication is that God showers down the rain after opening the
heavens and grows plants from the earth after tearing it apart.
I have translated the expression رَبُّ الْفَلَقِ as
“He who brings forth.” In my opinion, this translation is more comprehensive and
meaningful. It is also in harmony with the subject which follows, as shall be
presently explained.
(٢) مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ
(from the evil of all that He has created)
This is a mention of the objective for which refuge is sought with the
Creator who brings forth. Man is urged to seek from the evil of the things
created with the very Being who has created them and no one other than Him
should be called upon for this purpose. Some other being can only give man
refuge when that being is more powerful than the one who has created these
things and it is absolutely illogical that any being be more powerful and
prevailing than the creator of this universe. Hence seeking refuge with someone
other than God from the evil of things created by God is absolute foolishness.
Here it should be kept in consideration that all things have been created by
God. No one is the Creator except Him.
Whatever God has created has been created for a positive purpose. However,
whenever He wants, He can change them into evil. Rain is an absolute blessing
for this world; however, if the Almighty wants, He can turn it into a
punishment. Similarly, man himself because of his lack of awareness or ill-use
turns something which is originally beneficial to him as something harmful. The
correct way to protect oneself from the ill-effects of things is that a person
should seek refuge with God alone. He should not start beseeching an object or a
person thinking that that object or person per se has the power to effect a
change, as has been the custom of polytheistic nations. Nor should a person
start calling any one other than God as ghawth (the helper) or qutub (the
pivot)
thinking that they would save him from God’s grasp. Only God can help a person
from God’s grasp. The various permissible measures a person adopts to save
himself from calamities eg consulting a doctor in case of sickness are not
against this principle on the condition that he thinks that the real doctor is
only God Himself. Only He can cure a sickness. If He does not intend to cure a
sickness, there is no one who in any way can cure the slightest of maladies.
It becomes evident from these details that only one utterance is enough to
close many doors which lead to polytheism. It also roots out duality and the
concept that good and evil have separate Gods and kingdoms. Polytheistic nations
while thinking that each calamity per se can cause benefit or harm start
beseeching it. The truth of the matter is that a calamity has no independent
existence; it is actually a manifestation of the various creations of God which
comes into being by God’s leave and casts its effects by His directive and it is
only His help which can be instrumental in shielding a person from it. Hence the
real haven and sanctuary is God Almighty.
(٣) وَمِنْ شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ
(and from the evil of the night as it spreads)
غَاسِق (ghāsiq) refers to night when it becomes
dark once the glow of dusk disappears. وَقَبَ (waqaba)
means the spreading of darkness. Lexicographers have written that ghāsiq also
means “the moon”. However, here the expression إِذَا وَقَبَ
(when it spreads) clearly points to the fact that it means “the night”. The
reason is that as its darkness increases, it increases by enshrouding many evils
in it.
This verse is a very good example of the fact that evil does not have an
independent existence in this world so that one may have to regard good and evil
to have two separate creators and both of these creators be beseeched. The truth
of the matter, as pointed out above, is that evil is a by-product of the objects
created by God. Therefore, to protect oneself from it, one does need to seek
refuge in someone other than God; on the contrary, refuge must be sought with
Him and only He should be beseeched and implored.
At various places in the Qur’ān, it is mentioned that for the sustenance of
this world, just as the warmth of the day is necessary, the calm and cold of
night is also necessary. In these verses, the harmony between conflicting
elements in sustaining this world is presented as an argument for monotheism.
Here, by urging man to seek refuge from the evil of the night, the message which
is intended to be put across to him is that the night which provides comfort to
man has an evil by-product: in it thieves, assassins, enemies, harmful creatures
come out to harm him. It would be very wrong to conclude from the intervention
of these unwanted visitors at night which co-exist with the comfort provided by
it that the creator of the night is someone else and of the un-welcome things
which appears in it to be someone else. Then the fact that both these creators
are invoked for help would be as wrong. The correct and rational attitude would
be to regard the creator of both as the same. It is He who has blessed man with
the comfort of night and it is only He who can grant a person refuge from things
which are harmful to him. In other words, just as the blessings of the night are
a favour from God, the evil which it enshrouds is because of God’s permission.
Thus man must seek only His refuge in all circumstances.
Here, one must keep in consideration the fact we have referred to earlier
that by not understanding this nature of the existence of evil, some naïve
people have regarded evil to have an independent existence and then founded the
concept of dualism by regarding good and evil to have separate creators. By
giving a very sound example, the Qur’ān has clarified in this verse what the
actual nature of evil is and who is the one who can give man refuge from it.
(٤) وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ
(and from the evil of those who blow on knots)
After urging man to seek refuge from evil which is material and tangible
calamities, in this verse he is urged to seek refuge from evil which is
spiritual and moral in nature.
The expression النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ means
“those who blow on knots”. Although the word النَّفَّاثَاتِ
is in the feminine form, it does necessarily imply women. According to
linguistic principles of Arabic,
it can imply evil spirits and evil souls, whether men or women and whether here
they refer to those among the Jews and Sabeans or among the conjurers and
soothsayers of Arabia.
Blowing on knots is the way adopted by charmers and people who give amulets.
They chant spells in their minds and then blow on chords and threads while tying
knots on it and believe that in this manner they can lure and control their
subject. They then try to inflict whatever harm they want to on this subject.
The adjective naffāthāt is intended to portray a picture of their pretense. A
similar portrayal is made at another place in the Qur’ān of the meditation of
the soothsayers: يُلْقُونَ السَّمْعَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ
كَاذِبُونَ (٢٢٣:٢٦) (They eagerly listen and most of them are liars,
(26:223)). In my opinion, the purpose of this portrayal is to point out its
worthlessness.
As far as the question whether charms and spells do have effects is
concerned, we have already given our opinion while commenting on the issue of
Hārūt and Mārūt mentioned in Sūrah Baqarah (2:102).
In our opinion, a greater part of these spells is mere fraud and deception as is
evident from the above quoted verse (26:223). And if at all they can have
effects, the Qur’ān has clearly said that they can only cause any harm by God’s
permission: (٢:
١٠٢) بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلاَّ
بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَمَا هُم (And the fact of the matter is that they can
harm none with what they learnt except by God’s permission, (2:102)). Now when
they can cause harm only with the permission of God, there remains no need to
look for someone other than God for seeking refuge with.
It is the practice of God to deal with people the way they deal with
themselves: If a person fosters a strong relationship with God and his heart
remains replete with His remembrance and if he protects himself from
superstitious beliefs and always turns to God when he encounters hardships, then
the Almighty does not allow Satan to take the better of him. If some accidental
harm does come his way, he is able to save himself by diverting his attention to
God.
On the other hand, if a person is superstitious and credulous and instead of
relying on sense and reason relies on speculation and conjecture and if instead
of deeply trusting God clings to doubts and skepticism then such a person is
often lured by devils among the jinn and men, who then escort him to all sorts
of evil. The only way to protect oneself from this evil, according to this sūrah,
is to remain in the asylum of the Almighty. Whenever he feels that his heart is
getting inclined to evil, he should immediately seek refuge with Him. The best
way to do this is to recite these two last sūrahs of the Qur’ān.
(٥) وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ
(and from the evil of the envious person when he envies)
Here, at the end, the Qur’ān has taught the believers a prayer to shield
themselves from the envies of envious people. The envious are referred to here
in general and no one specific is implied. The reason is that whoever the
envious person maybe, when his envy crosses the limits, like the envy of Cain it
subsides only after spilling the blood of Able. Hence one should keep seeking
refuge from it. We have already explained in the introduction to this sūrah that
it is Satan who envies man the most and is particularly envious of the belief of
monotheism. We have already referred to the evidence regarding his intense
determination to alienate people from this belief. The following verses may also
be kept in consideration so that the emphasis in the words
إِذَا حَسَدَ (when he envies) is fully understood:
قَالَ
أَرَأَيْتَكَ هَـذَا الَّذِي كَرَّمْتَ عَلَيَّ لَئِنْ أَخَّرْتَنِ إِلَى يَوْمِ
الْقِيَامَةِ لأَحْتَنِكَنَّ ذُرِّيَّتَهُ إَلاَّ قَلِيلاً
قَالَ اذْهَبْ فَمَن تَبِعَكَ مِنْهُمْ فَإِنَّ
جَهَنَّمَ جَزَآؤُكُمْ جَزَاء مَّوْفُورًا وَاسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُمْ
بِصَوْتِكَ وَأَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِم بِخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِي
الأَمْوَالِ وَالأَوْلادِ وَعِدْهُمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلاَّ
غُرُورًا إِنَّ عِبَادِي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَانٌ وَكَفَى بِرَبِّكَ
وَكِيلاً (١٧:
٦٢-٦٥)
Satan said: “So this is the one whom You have exalted above me. If You grant
me respite till the Day of Judgement, I will wipe out all but a few of his
descendants.” The Almighty replied: “Go! Hell is your complete reward, and the
complete reward of those that follow you. Incite with your voice whomever you
are able to. Muster against them your battalions on horse and on foot. Be their
partner in their riches and in their offspring. Make false promises with them
and all of Satan’s promises are mere deception. However, You will not be able to
influence My true servants and sufficient is Your Lord for trust.” (17:62-65)
Evident from this verse under discussion is the vigour, determination and
resources with which Satan is equipped to divert mankind from the path of
monotheism. This aggression on his part is pointed by the words:
إِذَا حَسَدَ ie. when this envious being starts to
show his envy with full frenzy.
This sūrah does not require any narrative to explain its occasion for
revelation. However, some people have mentioned it with reference to an incident
as per which the Prophet (sws), God forbid, once came under the influence of a
magical spell of the Jews. As a result of this spell, he became sick and was
taught the words of this sūrah. Later, he was cured of the ill-effects of this
spell once he recited these sūrahs.
Although it is claimed that this magical spell did not in any way effect him
in discharging his duties as a prophet, simultaneously it is also acknowledged
with naivety that as a result of this spell the Prophet (sws) felt mentally and
physically drained. At times, he would think that he had done a certain task
whereas actually he had not. Similarly, it was acceded that he would think that
he had gone near his wives whereas he would not have. At other times, he would
even begin to have doubts about his sight: he would think that he had seen a
thing, whereas he would not have in fact seen it. These people also claim that
the Prophet (sws) did not remain in this state for a few hours or a few days –
he was in it for six whole months. The question arises that if he, God forbid,
really remained in this state of mental lapse for a period of six months, how
can it be ruled out that he, God forbid, could have thought that he had offered
a prayer whereas actually he had not or that he had dictated to his scribes the
revelations brought to him by Gabriel or not or whether he had seen Gabriel or
not? On what grounds can one rule out these possibilities? If someone says that
we find no such information in Hadīth narratives, one can reply by saying that
when have all details been recorded in them? On the other hand, what is more
probable is that a person whose mental state was such, then such things would
have emanated from him. It would be strange if they had not.
In the opinion of this writer, what is enough to reject this occasion of
revelation is the fact it is against the established belief of infallibility
about Prophets (‘ismat-i anbiyā’) mentioned by the Qur’ān. As per this belief,
they cannot err in matters of receiving divine revelation the way it was sent to
them and also cannot err in communicating it in its original form to their
followers. The fact that prophets have been wounded or have lost some of their
teeth or were even assassinated does in no way negate this belief. None of these
happenings can hinder them in discharging their duties as prophets. No one can
present these incidents as arguments to say that if a prophet can be inflicted
with these things, then he can also come under the influence of a magical spell
to the extent that he is unable to remember whether he had done something or not
and seen something or not. The Almighty has protected His prophets from such
satanic effects and this protection is essential for the protection of the
contents of the religion revealed to them. It is this protection which
authenticates the words and deeds of prophets as part of religion. The whole of
the Qur’ān bears witness to the fact that the Prophet (sws) received and
communicated the religion revealed to him in a fool-proof manner and it is
incumbent upon every Muslim to profess belief in this.
If we judge these Āhadith on the principles of rawāyah, a major weakness in
the chain of narrators can be noted. In order to inject fabrications in a
narrative of the six canonical collections, concocted and weak narratives have
been relied upon and the fabricated incident has been portrayed as an actual
happening.
Among the compilers of the six canonical collections, this narrative has only
been recorded by Bukhārī, Muslim and Ibn Mājah. It is a khabār-i wāhid up to
the third step in its chain of narration.
In one narrative of Bukhārī, Sufyān Ibn ‘Uyaynah admits that he has had heard it
for the first time from Ibn Jurayj.
In other words, this event came to general notice almost a hundred years after
the Prophet’s death. Before this, only a small number of people were aware of
it. Everyone can understand that if the Prophet (sws) had really remained under
the influence of a magical spell, then such an incident was so extra-ordinary
that it should have become very famous in the first period and this narrative
should have reached us as a mutawātir narrative.
None of the narratives reported in the canonical collections informs us about
the length of the period for which the Prophet (sws) remained in this state. On
the other hand, the words which are common to the narratives of all the three
collections are: حتى إذا كان ذات يوم أو ذات ليلة دعا رسول
الله ثم دعا ثم دعا (Till the time that when a day or a night had passed,
the Prophet (sws) supplicated continuously).
It is evident from these words that if something did influence his mind, it only
lasted for some hours. Then he supplicated continuously to God and was cured of
its effects. If this happened, then it was similar to how Moses (sws) had come
to regard the ropes and staffs of the magicians as snakes and became worried
temporarily. It is not unlikely that such things cannot happen. Such incidents
can even take place to test the prophets but are always transient so that they
do not effect in any way the infallibility of the prophets.
One should also keep in mind the fact none of the muhaddithūn of the
canonical collections have mentioned this incident as the shā’n-i nuzūl
(occasion of revelation) of these sūrahs nor has it been mentioned that the
Prophet (sws) had untied the knots of a chord whilst reciting these sūrahs. In
other words, it becomes evident that these muhaddithūn never linked this
incident to Sūrah Falaq. It is the later scholars who have linked the narratives
which mention this incident to these last two sūrahs of the Qur’ān.
Notwithstanding the fact that it is evident from this explanation of Sūrah Falaq
and that of its succeeding sūrah, Sūrah Nās that the subject matter of these
sūrahs rejects the fact that the revelation of these sūrahs be occasioned
because of an unspecified magician casting a spell on the Prophet (sws).
With the grace of God, the explanation of this sūrah ends here.
فالحمد لله على إحسانه (so gratitude be to Him for this
favour)
Lahore,
9th August, 1980 AD
26 Ramadān, 1400 AH
(Translated from Tadabbur-i-Qur’ān by Shehzad Saleem)
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