Surahs al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas (112–114): text, translations and tafsir

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is Allah—One ˹and Indivisible˺;

Say:^[1] “He is Allah,^[2] the One and Unique;^[3]

^[1] The first addressee of this command is the Prophet peace be upon him) himself for it was he who was asked Who is your Lord and what is He like. Again it was he who was commanded to answer the question in the following words. But after him every believer is its addressee. He too should say what the Prophet peace be upon him) had been commanded to say.
^[2] That is, my Lord to Whom you want to be introduced is none but Allah. This is the first answer to the questions, and it means I have not introduced a new lord who I want you to worship beside all other gods, but it is the same Being you know by the name of Allah. Allah was not an unfamiliar word for the Arabs. They had been using this very word for the Creator of the universe since the earliest times, and they did not apply this word to any of their other gods. For the other gods they used the word ilah. Then their beliefs about Allah had become fully manifest at the time Abraha invaded Makkah. At that time there existed 360 idols of gods ilahs) in and around the Kabah, but the polytheists forsaking all of them had invoked only Allah for protection. In other words, they knew in their hearts that no ilah could help them on that critical occasion except Allah. The Kabah was also called Bait-Allah by them and not Baitilahs after their self-made gods. At many places in the Quran the polytheistic Arabian belief about Allah has been expressed, thus
^[3] In Surah Az-Zukhruf it has been said If you ask them who created them, they will surely say, Allah. verse 87).

Say, "He is Allāh, [who is] One,^[2011]

^[2011] Alone, without another, indivisible with absolute and permanent unity and distinct from all else. The one and only true deity, unique in His essence, attributes and deeds.

SAY: "He is the One God:

Say: “He is Allah, the One^[1];

^[1] He is Alone, without a partner, indivisible and distinct from all else. The only true deity, unique in His essence, attributes, and actions.

Say, O Messenger: He is Allah who is alone in being a deity. There is no deity except Him.

Allah—the Sustainer ˹needed by all˺.

Allah, Who is in need of none and of Whom all are in need;^[1]

^[1] The word used in the original is samad of which the root is smd. A look at the derivatives in Arabic from this root will show how comprehensive and vast this word is in meaning. Lexical discussion of the meanings of the derivatives is omitted).

Allāh, the Eternal Refuge.^[2012]

^[2012] He who is absolute, perfect, complete, essential, self-sufficient and sufficient to meet the needs of all creation; the one eternally and constantly required and sought, depended upon by all existence and to whom all matters will ultimately return.

"God the Eternal, the Uncaused Cause of All Being.

Allah, the Eternal Refuge^[2].

^[2] He is absolute, perfect, complete, self-sufficient; the one eternally and constantly required and sought; all existence depend upon Him; all matters ultimately return to Him.

He is the master to whom belongs all sovereignty and perfect, beautiful qualities. The one to whom all creation turn to.

He has never had offspring, nor was He born.

He neither begot any nor was He begotten,^[1]

^[1] The polytheists in every age have adopted the concept that like men, gods also belong to a species, which has many members and they also get married, beget and are begotten. They did not even regard Allah, Lord of the universe, as supreme and above this concept of ignorance, and even proposed children for Him. Thus, the Arabian belief as stated in the Quran was that they regarded the angels as daughters of Allah. The Prophetic communities too could not remain immune from this creed of paganism. They too adopted the creed of holding one saintly person or another as son of God. Two kinds of concepts have always been mixed up in these debasing superstitions. Some people thought that those whom they regarded as Allah’s children, were descended from him in the natural way and some others claimed that the one whom they called son of God, had been adopted by Allah Himself as a son. Although they could not dare call anyone as, God forbid, father of God, obviously human mind cannot remain immune against such a concept that God too should be regarded as a son of somebody when it is conceived that He is not free from sex and procreation and that He too, like man, is the kind of being which begets children and needs to adopt a son in case it is childless, That is why one of the questions asked of the Prophet peace be upon him) was What is the ancestry of Allah, and another was From whom has He inherited the world and who will inherit it after Him.

He neither begets nor is born,

"He begets not, and neither is He begotten;

He neither begets nor is He begotten,

The one who did not give birth to anyone, nor did anyone give birth to Him. So He has no offspring - may He be glorified - nor any parent.

And there is none comparable to Him.”

and none is comparable to Him.”^[1]

^[1] The word kufu as used in the original means an example, a similar thing, the one equal in rank and position. In the matter of marriage, kufu means that the boy and the girl should match each other socially. Thus, the verse means that there is no one in the entire universe, nor ever was, nor ever can be, who is similar to Allah, or equal in rank with Him, or resembling Him in His attributes, works and powers in any degree whatever.

Nor is there to Him any equivalent."

"and there is nothing that could be compared with Him.

and there is none comparable to Him.”^[3]

^[3] The Prophet ﷺ) says that reading this surah surat al-Ikhlās) equals reading one third of the Qur’an. Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]

Nor does He have any equal from His creation.

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak

Say:^[1] “I seek refuge^[2] with the Lord of the rising day;^[3]

^[1] As qul say) is a part of the message which was conveyed to the Prophet peace be upon him) by revelation for preaching his prophetic message, its first addressee is the Prophet peace be upon him) himself but after him every believer is also its addressee.
^[2] The act of seeking refuge necessarily consists of three parts
^[3] 1) The act of seeking refuge itself.

Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak

SAY: "I seek refuge with the Sustainer of the rising dawn,

Say, “I seek refuge with the Lord of the daybreak,

Say, O Messenger: “I seek refuge in the Lord of the morning and I seek His protection.”

from the evil of whatever He has created,

from the evil of all that He created;^[1]

^[1] In other words I seek His refuge from the evil of all creatures. A few things in this sentence deserve consideration.

From the evil of that which He created

"from the evil of aught that He has created,

from the harm of all what He has created;

“From the evils of the harms of all creation.”

and from the evil of the night when it grows dark,

from the evil of night's darkness when it spreads around;^[1]

^[1] After seeking Allah’s refuge generally from the evil of the creatures, now prayer is being taught for seeking refuge from the evil of some special creatures in particular. The word ghasiq in the verse literally means dark. Thus, at another place in the Quran it has been said Establish the salat from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night, ila-ghasaq-il-lail. Surah Bani lsrail, Ayat 78), and waqab means to enter or to overspread. Prayer has been taught to seek refuge in particular from the evil of the darkness of night, for most of the crimes and acts of wickedness are committed at night, harmful animals also come out at night, and the night was a very dreadful thing in the time chaos prevailed in Arabia when these verses were revealed. Raiders came out in the dark of night and plundered and destroyed settlements. The people who were thinking of putting the Prophet peace be upon him) to death, also made their secret plans at night, so that the murder could not be detected. Therefore, command was given to seek Allah’s refuge from the evils and calamities which descend at night. Here, the subtle relation that exists between seeking refuge from the evil of the dark night with the Lord of breaking dawn cannot remain hidden from anybody having insight and understanding.

And from the evil of darkness when it settles

"and from the evil of the black darkness whenever it descends,

from the harm of darkening [night] when it spreads around,

“And I seek refuge in Allah from the evils that appear in the night, i.e. harmful creatures and bandits.”

and from the evil of those ˹witches casting spells by˺ blowing onto knots,

from the evil of the women who blow on knots;^[1]

^[1] The word uqad in naffathat fil-uqad is plural of uqdah, which means a knot that is tied on a string or piece of thread. Nafath means to blow. Naffathat is plural of naffathah, which may mean the men who blow much, and if taken as a feminine gender, women who blow much; it may as well relate to nufus human beings) or to jamaats groups of men), for both nafas and jamaat are grammatically feminine. Blowing upon knots, according to most, rather all, commentators imply magic, for the magicians usually tie knots on a string or thread and blow upon them as they do so. Thus, the verse means I seek refuge with the Lord of rising dawn from the evil of magicians, male and female. This meaning is also supported by the traditions which show that when magic was worked on the Prophet peace be upon him), Gabriel had come and taught him to recite the Muawwidhatayn, and in the Muawwidhatayn this is the only sentence which relates directly to magic. Abu Muslim Isfahani and Zamakhshari have also given another meaning of naffathat fil-uqad, which is that it implies the deceitfulness of women and their influencing men’s resolutions, views and ideas and this has been compared to a magic spell, for in the love of women man starts behaving as if he was under a spell. Though this explanation is interesting, it runs counter to the commentary given by the earlier scholars; and it also does not correspond to the conditions in which the Muawwidhatayn were sent down as we have shown in the Introduction.

And from the evil of the blowers in knots^[2014]

^[2014] i.e., those who practice magic.

"and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours,

from the harm of the sorceresses^[1] who blow on knots,

^[1] i.e., magicians.

“And I seek His refuge from the evils of the sorceresses who blow onto knots.”

and from the evil of an envier when they envy.”

and from the evil of the envier when he envies.”^[1]

^[1] Hasad means that a person should feel unhappy at the better fortune, superiority or good quality that Allah has granted to another, and should wish that it should be taken away from the other person and given to him, or at least the other one should be deprived of it. However, hasad does not mean that a person should wish that he too should be blessed with the bounty that the other one has been blessed with. Here, Allah’s refuge has been sought from the evil of the jealous one when he feels jealous, and takes a practical step with word or deed to satisfy his heart. For until he takes a practical step, his being unhappy may by itself be bad but it is not an evil for the other person so that he may seek refuge from it. When such an evil appears from a jealous person the best thing would be to seek Allah’s refuge from it. Besides this, there are a few other things which are also helpful for obtaining immunity from the evil of the jealous person. First, that one should have trust in Allah and the faith that unless Allah so wills no one can harm him in any way. Second, that one should have patience over what the jealous person says and does and should not start behaving impatiently so as to be degraded morally to the level of the jealous person. Third, that one should in any case maintain dignity and practice piety even if the jealous person behaves frivolously, being fearless of God and shameless of the people. Fourth, that one should free his mind of every thought about the jealous person and should disregard him altogether, for making him a subject of one’s thought is a prelude to being influenced by him. Fifth, that one should do the jealous person a good turn as and when one can, not to speak of treating him evilly, no matter whether this good behavior mitigates his jealousy or not. Sixth, that one should understand rightly and remain steadfast to the doctrine of Tauhid for the heart which enshrines Tauhid, cannot be affected by anyone else’s fear except the fear of Allah.

And from the evil of an envier when he envies."

"and from the evil of the envious when he envies."

and from the harm of the envier when he envies."

“And I seek His refuge from the evil of the jealous one when he acts out his jealousy.”

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I seek refuge in the Lord of humankind,

Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind;

Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,

SAY: "I seek refuge with the Sustainer of men,

Say, “I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind,

Say, O Messenger: “I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind and seek His protection.”

the Master of humankind,

the King of mankind,

The Sovereign of mankind,

"the Sovereign of men,

the Sovereign of mankind^[1],

^[1] i.e., the King of mankind.

“The King of the people, who does whatever He wishes with them. They do not have any real king other than Him.”

the God of humankind,

the True God of mankind,^[1]

^[1] Here also, as in Surah Al-Falaq, instead of saying Audhu-billahi I seek Allah’s refuge), a prayer has been taught to seek Allah’s refuge by reference to His three attributes First, that He is Rabb-in-naas, i.e. Sustainer, Provider; second, that He is Malik-in-naas, i.e. Master of all mankind; third, that He is Ilah-in-naas, i.e. real Deity of all mankind. Here, one should clearly understand that the word ilah has been used in two meanings in the Quran first for the thing or person who is practically being worshipped although it or he is not entitled to worship; second, for Him Who is entitled to worship, Who is in fact the Deity whether the people worship Him or not, wherever this word is used for Allah; it has been used in the second meaning. Seeking refuge by means of these three attributes means I seek refuge with that God, Who being the Sustainer, King and Deity of men, has full power over them, can fully protect them and can really save them from the evil, to save myself and others from which I am seeking His refuge. Not only this; since He alone is Sustainer, King and Deity, therefore, there is no one beside Him with Whom I may seek refuge and he may give real refuge.

The God of mankind,

"the God of men,

the God of mankind,

“He is their rightful deity; they do not have any rightful deity except Him.”

from the evil of the lurking whisperer—

from the mischief of the whispering, elusive prompter who returns again and again,^[1]

^[1] The word waswas in waswas-il-khannas means the one who whispers over and over again, and waswasa means to whisper into someone’s heart an evil suggestion over and over again in such a way or ways that the one who is being inspired may not feel that the whisperer is whispering an evil suggestion into his heart. Waswasah by itself suggests repetition just as zalzalah contains the meaning of repetitive movement. Since man is not tempted by just one attempt but effort has to be made over and over again to seduce and tempt him, such an attempt is called waswasah and the tempter waswas. As for the word khannas, it is derived from khunus, which means to hide after appearing and to retreat after coming into view. Since khannas is the intensive form, it would imply the one who behaves thus very frequently. Now, obviously the whisperer has to approach man for whispering again and again, and besides, when he is also described as khannas, the combination of the two words by itself gives the meaning that after whispering once he retreats and then again returns over and over again to repeat the act of whispering. In other words, when once he fails in his attempt to whisper evil, he withdraws, then he again returns to make the second and the third and the next attempt over and over again. After understanding the meaning of waswas-il-khannas, let us consider what is meant by seeking refuge from its evil. Its one meaning is that the seeker after refuge himself seeks God’s refuge from its evil, i.e. from the evil lest it should whisper some evil suggestion into his own heart. The second meaning is that the caller to Truth seeks God’s refuge from the evil of the one who whispers evil suggestions into the hearts of the people against himself. It is not in his own power to approach all the people in whose hearts evil suggestions are being whispered against himself individually and remove the misunderstandings of every person. It is also not right and proper for him that he should give up his mission of inviting others to Allah and should devote all his time and energy to removing the misunderstanding created by the whisperer and to answering their accusations. It is also below his dignity that he should stoop to the level of his opponents. Therefore, Allah has instructed the caller to truth to seek only His refuge from the evil of the wicked people, and then to attend single-mindedly to his work of invitation and mission. For it is not for him to deal with them but for Allah, who is Sustainer of men, King of men, God of men. Here, one should also understand that an evil suggestion is the starting point of evil act. When it affects a careless or heedless person, it creates in him a desire for evil. Then, further whisperings change the evil desire into an evil intention and evil purpose. When the evil suggestion grows in intensity, the intention becomes a resolution, which then culminates in the evil act. Therefore, the meaning of seeking God’s refuge from the evil of the whisperer is that Allah should nip the evil in the bud. If seen from another aspect, the order of the evil of the whisperers seems to be this first they incite one to open unbelief, polytheism, or rebellion against Allah and His Messenger, and enmity of the righteous godly) people. If they fail in this and a person does enter Allah’s religion, they misguide him to some innovation. If they fail in this too, they tempt him to sin. If they do not succeed even in this, they inspire the man with the suggestion that there is no haram in indulging in minor sins, so that if he starts committing these freely, he is over burdened with sin. If one escapes from this too, in the last resort they try that one should keep the true religion confined to oneself, and should do nothing to make it prevail, but if a person defeats all these plans, the whole party of the devils from among men and jinn makes a common front against him and incites and stirs up the people and makes them shower him with invective and accusation and slander, and defames him as widely as it can. Then, Satan comes to the believer and excites him to anger, saying It is cowardly of you to have borne all this insult arise and clash with your opponents. This is the last and final device with Satan by which he tries to thwart the struggle of the caller to truth and entangle him in difficulties and obstructions. If he succeeds in escaping from this too, Satan becomes powerless before him. About this same thing it has been said in the Quran If Satan ever excites you to anger, seek refuge with Allah. Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 200); Surah HaMim As-Sajdah, Ayat 36). Say Lord, I seek refuge with You from the promptings of satans. Surah Al-Mominun, Ayat 97). The fact is that if ever an evil suggestion from Satan so much as touches those who are God-fearing people, they immediately get alerted and clearly see the right course they should adopt. Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 201). And on this very basis about the people who escape from this last attack of Satan Allah says None can attain to this rank except those who are men of great good fortune. Surah HaMim As-Sajdah, Ayat 35). In this connection, another thing should also be kept in mind, and it is this Evil suggestion is not whispered into the heart of man only from outside by the satans from among men and jinn, but also by the self of man from within. His own wrong theories misguide his intellect, his own unlawful motives and desires lead his power of discrimination, will and power of judgment astray, and it is not only the satans from outside but within man his satan of the self also beguiles him. This same thing has been expressed in the Quran, thus And We know the evil suggestions arising from his self. Surah Qaaf, Ayat 16). On this very basis, the Prophet peace be upon him) in his well-known Sermon said We seek Allah’s refuge from the evils of our self.

From the evil of the retreating whisperer^[2016] -

^[2016] i.e., a devil who makes evil suggestions to man but disappears when one remembers Allāh.

"from the evil of the whispering, elusive tempter

from the harm of the lurking whisperer^[2],

^[2] Which disappears when one remembers Allah.

“From the evils of Satan who whispers to the human when he is neglectful of the remembrance of Allah, or delays in it when he remembers.”

who whispers into the hearts of humankind—

who whispers in the hearts of people;

Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind -

"who whispers in the hearts of men

who whispers into the hearts of mankind,

“He whispers to the hearts of people.”

from among jinn and humankind.”

whether he be from the jinn or humans.”^[1]

^[1] According to some scholars, these words mean that the whisperer whispers evil into the hearts of two kinds of people the jinn and the men. If this meaning is admitted, the word naas would apply to both jinn and men. They say that this can be so, for when the word rijal men) in the Quran has been used for the jinn, as in Surah Al-Jinn, Ayat 6), and when nafar can be used for the group of jinn, as in Surah A1-Ahqaf, Ayat 29), men and jinn both can be included metaphorically in the word naas also. But this view is wrong because the words naas, ins and insan are even lexically contrary in meaning to the word jinn. The actual meaning of jinn is hidden creation and jinn is called jinn because he is hidden from man’s eye. On the contrary, the words naas and ins are spoken for insan man) only on the basis that he is manifest and visible and perceptible. In Surah Al-Qasas, Ayat 29), the word anasa has been used in the meaning of raa, i.e. the Prophet Moses peace be upon him) saw a fire in the direction of Toor. In Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 6), the word anastum has been used in the meaning of ahsastum or raaytum i.e. if you perceive or see that the orphans have become capable). Therefore, naas cannot apply to jinn lexically, and the correct meaning of the verse is From the evil of the whisperer who whispers evil into the hearts of men, whether he be from among the jinn or from the men themselves. In other words, whispering of evil is done by devils from among jinn as well as by devils from among men and the prayer in this Surah has been taught to seek refuge from the evil of both. This meaning is supported by the Quran as well as by the Hadith. The Quran says And so it has always been that We set against every Prophet enemies from among devils of men and devils of jinn, who have been inspiring one another with charming things to delude the minds. Surah Al-Anaam, Ayat 112). And in the Hadith, lmam Ahmad, Nasai, and Ibn Hibban have related on the authority of Abu Dharr a tradition, saying I sat before the Prophet peace be upon him, who was in the Mosque. He said Abu Dharr, have you performed the Prayer? I replied in the negative. He said Arise and perform the Prayer. So, I performed the Prayer. The Prophet peace be upon him) said O Abu Dharr, seek Allah’s refuge from the devils of men and the devils of jinn. I asked, are there devils among men also? O Messenger of Allah! He replied Yes.

From among the jinn and mankind."^[2017]

^[2017] Evil prompters may be from men as well as from jinn.

"from all [temptation to evil by] invisible forces as well as men,"

from among jinn and mankind^[3].”

^[3] Evil prompters and whisperers can be from jinn or from men.

“And he could be from the humankind or from the Jinn.”