Surah Falaq

Surah naas and Surah Falq are also interlinked very closely. Sarah Falq and Surah naas were revealed simultaneously by Allah. The vast majority considers these two Surahs madni because of the narrations about these Surahs. After Sulah Hudaiybiya, Makkans did not remain the biggest power and enemy, because Jews were a bigger problem in Madinah. The Makkans tried to engage in offence against Prophet SAWW. Labeeed bin Asim, was a member of Banu Quraiza and one of the best magicians. The people of Khyber came soliciting his help. He paid one of the servants of Prophet SAWW who brought to him a couple of hairs from the Prophet SAWW's comb and he does magic on it and then put it at the bottom of a well zoo arwaaan and buried it. Prophet SAWW felt mentally and physically disturbed and he became forgetful and felt burdened. He told Hazrat Ayesha RA that he was suffering from magic and two angels came in the form of human beings to him in a dream, and they said that sorcery has been done on him. They told Labeed bin Asim had done magic and how he did it. These angels recited 11 ayahs Surah Falq and Naas and told him to recite it on the 11 knots one by one and open the knots. After that he felt relieved and felt as if an ailment was removed. Some people say that the narration does not prove that the Surahs are madnee as they might have been revealed in Makkah period and the angels only reminded Prophet SAWW to recite them. 

If we accept that Prophet SAWW was affected by magic, does that justify when people say that Prophet SAWW was involved in magic? NO. Prophet SAWW was not a magician but it is possible that he is affected by magic. If magic can have an affect on someone, does that mean that Allah does not have ultimate power? NO. Allah does have ultimate power but he lets things happen and he allows evil things to happen sometimes just to test people. e.g. Allah can allow magic to happen. Allah himself mentions magic and he mentions Harut and Marut two angels who used to teach magic and say we are just here to test you so don't try magic as it is kufr. But those people still learnt magic and still practised it and Allah punished them. But no one can harm EXCEPT if Allah lets people harm someone.

This is a miracle of the Quran because no one was aware of this magic before, but Allah clearly specified that they are doing magic on knots. There was no way of knowing this except wahy.

One sahaaabi thought these two Surahs are not part of the Quran, and they are Allah's word but just for protection and not a part of the Quran. But the majority is not of this opinion. Several narrations prove it. It is very common for sahaba to have an opinion that is different from all other opinions. SO we follow the majority and this should not confuse us. This also does not make any sahaba any less than others as it is an intellectual disagreement.

The one who's protection we are seeking is Mustaaz bihi and the one we are seeking protection from/escaping from is Mustaaz minhuu. Sarah Falq has many mustaaz minhu and one mustaaz bihi and Surah Naas has many descriptions of Mustaaz bihi and one Mustaaz mind. Sarah Falq is about things that are not under our control and those evils are outward and Surah naas is about actions of human beings and internal evils. Inward evils are stronger so a stronger protection and more desperate plea is made in Surah naas as its a bigger danger.

The first evil mentioned is from the one who was created, then from the night, and then from the one who blows on knots/sorcery so the evils shift from more generalised to more specific. 

قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ (Arabic)

Translation: Say: "I seek refuge with the Lord of al-Falaq. (Sūrat al-Falaq 113:1)

QUL has a different meaning in different contexts. Here, Allah wants humans to acknowledge their weakness in front of Allah as an act of humility. Qul removes arrogance, ujub and ego. Even ego is a kind of shirk. This is also a manifestation of our ikhlaas and sincerity. QUL is a command and when we follow it, we obey Allah. We can't ask Allah's help without obeying him so Qul teaches us to obey Allah. Musaa AS said to Allah that I seek refuge from Allah from everyone who has arrogance and who does not believe in the day of accounting. Arrogance comes when one's imaan is weak in the final day. 

Istaaza means to cling to someone for protection because of fear of unseen dangers. Ijaara is the word used for protection against physical SEEN enemies. But Istaaza is for unseen enemies and intangible evil forces. Maaaz is a place where we find refuge e.g. when we say Maaaz Allah.

Aoozu means seeking refuge. It means we submit and give ourselves to Allah SWT for refuge and protection.

Falq means to rip something or tear something open. It is used for morning because the rays pierce the darkness(daybreak). Falq is also used for a seed when it rips open and a plant comes out. Falq is also used for rain coming out of clouds. It is also used for children which come out of womb. Falq includes all creation because all creation came OUT of something so it has the meaning of falq.  

Rabaul Falq means that Allah owns the creation. This links it to Surah Ikhlaas because Surah Ikhlaas had the adjective Samad(the one who everybody needs but He is not in need of anyone).  Surah Falq is the practical manifestation of Samad as we seek Allah and need him. Falq can also mean tearing problems open and expanding things for us by making ease. 

Evil has always been associated with darkness and Towheed is associated with nooor. This Surah is about all evils which signify darkness, so ALLAH rips through the darkness by beginning the Surah with Falq which is the daybreak and the light tearing through all the darkness. Shirk is also darkness, and zulm means darkness literally and injustice figuratively, hence the ayah inna shirkaa lazulmun azeem.

One hadith also says that Falq is a door in hell which when opens, the heat tears everything apart. another narration says that Falq is a terrible prison in hell so even hell seeks refuge from it. So Falq can also mean punishment. The people who act on evils, their punishment is Falaq as Allah is the master of Falq.

113:2

From the evil of that which He created

Sharr is the opposite of Khayr. 

Beesaa means when we think something is deplorable and it's opposite is Nemaa. 

Saa-aa is something that is ugly/deformed/hideous and it's opposite is hasuna. (Sayyiaat and hasanaat)

Sharr universally and unanimously means something that is harmful and evil. Sharaara is the spark of the flame that can burn us. Sharr is basically the absence of good, just like darkness is the absence of light. 

We seek refuge from the evil of what he has created, which implies that sharr exists in every creation, and everything Allah has created can have harm in it. 

113:3

And from the evil of darkness when it settles

Ghasaq is the darkness after the sun sets. Ghaasiq is also used for that which sinks and disappears so it can even be used for the sun and the moon. Ghasaq can also be used for the dark sky when heavy rain is going to occur or for eyes which are dark because of crying. 

Shayateen come out at night so night is a very dangerous time. Most sins are committed at night. 

Waqab also refers to getting dark. Darkness is mentioned again to refer to so much darkness that things become invisible. It is like a ditch in the mountain at night. So there are hidden evils in the dark which can catch us off guard. 

Ghaasiq is also used for moon because scientifically it is hypothesised that full moon often ignites certain evil aggressive behaviours and there are also many fantasy myths about it. Even lunatic comes from lunar. 

We should try to stay at home at night and try to maximally avoid it.

113:4

And from the evil of the blowers in knots

Naffasaat refers to women who blow on knots.  It can also be used to refer to groups which blow on knots together. Naffasa means to blow softly with some spit coming out, nafakha means to blow strongly like the blowing of the trumpet. Nafasa with a seen means to take a breath.

113:5

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

Root of all the evils is mentioned at the end. Jealousy and Hasad leads to the evils mentioned previously. We can't stand others getting promotions or being superior to us. Children become jealous immediately so it is very important to curb this since the very beginning. Haasid is a hidden quality because it shows that the person has an element of hasad and hasada refers to him actively doing hasad. This is specifically about those who were jealous of the Prophet SAWW and even did magic because of it. Hasad is an unseen harm.

There is no room for jealousy in Islam except for a man who was given wealth and he is exhausting himself in destroying it in Allah's path, so he has an exceptional drive to GIVE. So we can do rashkk on such a person.It's hard for such a person to hold on to his money. Second is that person who has been given ilm by Allah and he teaches people wisdom. Wisdom is different from knowledge.

People even have jealousy in deeen. They compete negatively with people who are ahead of them in anyway in deep. Second jealousy exists among non muslims and kuffaar against muslims and they wish to drive muslims away from Islam. But our response should be to pardon people, forget it happened until Allah comes with his decision which will be ultimate. So we should not get fired up if nonmuslims plot something against us in jealousy.

Allah mentioned these specific sharrs because they have the potential to cause the most harm.

 

Why did Allah put alif lama before some evils and not before others e.g. haasidin, ghaasiqin, al-naffasaat? Allah made naffasaat proper because every single one of them is evil. Ghassiq is general because not every dark night is necessarily evil. Similarly, haasid may try to act on evil but may not necessarily do so. Secondly, this surah is specifically for nafasaat who did magic on Prophet SAWW so it has alif laam. 

Imagine a farmer has a farm or a garden but insects or animals eat from that garden and destroy it. This is also a form of harm although the intentions are not evil. So when we seek protection from what Allah has created, it also includes these evils. Suppose he plants it in a place where there is no obstruction and no hidden problem, so this refers to the hidden problems that can face the person int he darkness of the night(ghaasiq). Then the last thing that can happen is that a person becomes overwhelms from outside sources just like a plant can be destroyed by flooding. The last evil that can occur is through an enemy so then the gardener seeks protection from such an enemy. So just like a gardener tries to protect his plant, we are taught to seek protection from all kinds of evil that can harm us. 

Surah Naas

We should not try to give scientific rationale a higher place than Quranic revelation itself and we should not change the meaning of Quran just to make it more pleasing to others or to make it more scientific. People try to attack the hadith e.g. by saying that hadith were not compiled until around a 100 years after Prophet SAWW passed away, and the more authentic a hadith is the more fabricated it is and it has been covered up to make it seem authentic. Even some muslims doubt ahadith and say that they should not be used to interpret the Quran and they don't believe in context of revelation/shaan e nuzool.

The Quran was transmitted to us by the same sahaaba that transferred the ahadith. When you cannot trust them with ahadith, then you cannot even trust them with Quran? The Quran does NOT have contradictions but if we just look at ayahs without their context we will apparently find some contradictions, e.g. kill them wherever you find them vs. do not harbour animosity against anyone and treat them in the best way. Seemingly contradicting ayahs can be figured out when we look at their context, some surahs are mani some are makkki and the situation was different in these eras. Over simplification can lead to a lot of problems.

Surah Falaq was about outwardly sources of evil and Surah naaas is about the SOURCE of that evil i.e. Shaytaan. Allah not only protects us from evils outside ourselves as mentioned in Surah Falq but Allah also protects us from the evils inside us. The evils mentioned in Surah falq are out of our control, but those mentioned in Surah naaas are in OUR control as we can control our waswasa. Shaytan only invites us and WE are the ones who act upon it so this is a greater danger. The evils in Surah falq harm our dunyaa while waswasas harm our akhirah and imaan, so it needs to be guarded more. So we asked Allah's protection THRICE in Surah naas, we called Allah only once in Surah Falq.
The one we ask protection from is Mustaaaz bihi and the one we are escaping is Mustafa minhoo. The previous surah mentioned several mustaaz minhoo and one mustaaz bihi, and in this surah there is one mustaaz minhoo and several times mustaaz bihi is mentioned. That emphasises how strong this evil is and how strong a protection is needed.


قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ

Say, "I seek shelter with the Lord of the mankind"

QUL is an act of Allah's obedience and this is a means of seeking Allah's help and refuge. We can only seek protection after we have obeyed Allah's command. Declare your need for protection as this is a humbling experience as we admit that ONLY Allah can protect us.

The people are the one who need protection in this Surah that is why Allah used Rabbinaas. The Rabb of people. RABB has several implications. Rabb means absolute owner. e.g. owner of house, owner of slave. It is different from MALIK as Rabb has many meanings and includes SAYYED(one who has complete authority and charge) e.g. we can own a car and not have absolute authority over its make up. It also means MURABBI (it comes from tarbiyah, tarbiyah means to ensure the growth and maturity of something until it reaches the maturity where it can be productive) Murabbi is the one who ensures growth.  Root word is Raa baa wow and this also comes in the duaa rabbirhamhuma kaman RABBAYANI sagheera. It is possible that we own something and don't take care of it e.g. the garden, our home maintenance. But Allah not only OWNS us but also takes care of us. Rabb also means MURSHID (guides towards proper usage, grant us rash and hidaya). It also means MUNIM(the one who gives gifts so whatever Allah gives is a gift and he doesn't owe us anything). It also means QAYYIM(the one ensuring existence of his subjects). So we only exist because Allah allows us to exist and nurtures us e.g. a very delicate plant only survives if we take care of it otherwise it will die if we don't water it.

RABB is the first name Allah used to introduce himself to Muhammad SAWW and Musa AS.Allah said Iqra bismi rabbikalazi khalaq.  Allah Himself has introduced Himself as RABB. Allah said to Musa AS Inni Ana rabbukk and later said inane AlalAllah. Allah said in Surah Fatiha Alhamdulillahi rabbil aalameen. That is how important RABB is. The Quran begins and ends with RABB.  The summary of Quran is to accept Allah as the master and ourselves as slave. We need to internalise it. This guidance will only benefit those who accept themselves as slaves. We have to say iyyaka nabudu wa iyyaka nastaeen and only then we can say ihdinasiraatul mustaqeem. The Quran begins and ends with the emphasis that Allah is our rabb and we are His ABD. When we say we are his slave, that put us under his authority and we need to follow Allah's guidelines to live our life. We have to live our life according to Quran.


مَلِكِ النَّاسِ

King of mankind

One of the first realisation a child has is that his needs are being taken care of by his parents. MURABBI is one of the first realisations we have. Sometimes the problem is so big that parents cannot take care of it, then we need to go to the King/ Government. Then sometimes the problem is SO big that we can only ask ALLAH for help and have no one else to turn to on earth. There is a psychological progression. People tend to turn in dunyaa first to their loved ones and then to their king and higher authority and then to Allah. But Allah teaches us to go immediately first to our Rabb, we should turn for EVERYTHING to Allah. Ask Allah even if for a shoelace. So Allah fulfils all our needs so HE is our KING ALLAH and RABB.

There can be multiple caretakers in dunyaa but only one king in a country, but there is only one Allah in the whole universe so all these names have a logical progression and they become more and more specific to Allah. Allah cannot have ANY worldly implications as it is exclusively for Allah. It is a progression from more to less.

Caretaker can only take care of a few people, the king can take care of more people as he can watch over a country. Allah can watch over everyone. So NAAS is from qillat to qasrat as the people keep increasing. Allah does not repeat naaas just for beauty of language but it also has such hidden connotations.

Whenever we recite Quran, we should  be seeking refuge from Allah as Surah Fatiha begins, and we also end Quran seeking Allahs protection.

Who is the biggest victim of Shaytaan? Firaun. Firaun claimed to to be the rabb of people. Then he said don't I own the whole kingdom. He also called himself the maalik. Firaun also said to his generals: I don't know of any other Ilaah for you than myself. So Firaun tried to claim Allah's position, all 3 positions. His biggest problem was arrogance and shaytaan can also put that arrogance within us and that is a major waswasa. In this world, people declare themselves their OWN master, their own king, their own Ilaah. They think they own themselves and have full control over their lives and their lifestyles. We become mini Firaauns when we have ego and we think we do whatever we like. Allah crushes this ego by saying us to seek his protection at the start of this surah.

One of the root origins of Naas is Nisyaaan which means forgetfulness. People forget the promise they made to Allah when Allah asked us Am I NOT YOUR RABB? Allah has given Shaytaan the ability to make people forget, and they even forget Allah when living their life. They forget Allah while committing sins. We ask Allah to  be people of remembrance and not be people of forgetfulness. When we recite Quran we should seek Allah's refuge so that we are conscious and aware of Allah while doing every act. If the heart is filled with Allah's remembrance, then Shaytaan cannot enter it, but when the heart is an empty vessel and vacant, then Shaytaan will penetrate it and make us forget.

Allah has also repeated Naas to honour human beings by putting our name next to Allah's thrice.

MALIK is the authority of Allah. and the third name ALLAH includes both RABB and MALIK.


إِلَهِ النَّاسِ

God of mankind

ILAAH comes from alihaa which means to incline towards someone, to stick to someone, to go towards someone, to be obsessed with someone. so Allah is the one we should be constantly turning to. Allah also means one who should be worshipped AND obeyed. Ibadah includes worship and obedience. Firaun also said to his generals, who is your ilaah except me? so Ilaah is used in the context of obedience here. Some people are offered some very strong temptations e.g. a haram lavish job, then they have to remember that Allah is the ilaaaah and we should obey him.

مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ

From the mischief of the whisperer (of Evil, the Satan or the Evil one) who hides away (after his whispers

Shaytaan plants himself right above the heart of human being, and as soon as a human becomes lax and ghaafil, Shaytaan puts a waswasa, and as soon as he remembers Allah , Shaytaan retreats. (mafhoom of a hadith). Shaytaan keeps turning back to give waswasas. He NEVER takes a break from making us forget. Although we do take breaks from remembering Allah. Shaytaan works really hard to throw people into the fire. Shaytaan wants to instil his kibar into others and one manifestation of kibar is anger, that is why we seek Allah's refuge when we are angry.

There is not anyone of you except that there is a constant partner assigned to him. Also with Muhammad SAWW. But Allah has aided Muhammad SAWW so he does not tell me anything but good. (mafhoom of hadith)

The messenger SAWW returned Safiyah RA to her home, and on the way two Ansar are walking by, and he tells his wife to stop and says that this is Safiyah. The sahaaba said why are you saying this, why are you explaining, we won't think anything wrong. Then our prophet SAWW said that shaytaan flows in us like blood and I feared he might put a waswasa in your heart. (mafhoom of hadith) Shaytaan also puts waswasa in our mind against Prophet SAWW and tries to turn us away from hadith and sunnah. People who don't have knowledge and don't remember Allah and leave a vacancy for Shaytaan are victimised by Shaytaan. Shaytaan plants an ego within our hearts that why should we follow Prophet SAWW, he is just a human like us, so why should we accept his authority over us. We don't like accepting authorities over us so we don't like the police, the boss, the teacher, the judge. So it's hard for us to accept Prophet SAWW as the ultimate authority, it is relatively easy for us because we are not in his era.  But how hard was it for people who were in his time as now his friends and family have to accept him as the ultimate authority. People keep asking IS IT IN THE QURAN? They don't say is this in the QURAN AND SUNNAH? People remove the sunnah from the Quran and separate them.

SHARR is a harmful evil and a spark that can harm us.
Shaytaan comes from shatana or shaaata and it means being consumed with rage.

Waswasa is translated as whisper. Hams is another word that comes for whisper. Hams can have a positive or negative context but Waswasa is only negative. Haamis is someone who whispers but waswasa refers to whispering again and again(syllables repetition also point towards repetition of the act).  Why did Allah not use the word Muwaswis? Allah used WASWAAS which is mubaalga, because Shaytaan is an obsessive compulsive whisperer and he repeats again and again. It refers first and foremost to ibleees as Allah used AL WASWAAS.

Some scientific people have the concept that Iblees is dead and now his followers are doing his job. This is false as Iblees is still around according to Quran.

Why did Allah say whisperer instead of whispering? Why waswaas and not waswasa? The one who does the whispering can do more evils than just the whisper.  So we seek Allahs protection from he whisperer when he whispers or does any other evil. It is more comprehensive. Then Allah says KHANNAAS. It was also used in Quran to refer to stars that twinkle and then disappear.  Allah did not use the word KHAANIS but he used KHANNAAS, so KHANNAAS is the one who KEEPS stepping back. Shaytaan keeps stepping forward and seeking refuge keeps pushing him back. Shaytaan keeps doing it over and over again and never gets tired. e.g. the seegha FA'AAL means that the person keeps doing the thing over and over again like WAHHAAB means keep giving gifts GHAFFAAR means keeps forgiving. Waswaas is his offence and Khannaas is his defence.

We express our humility and ask protection from Shaytaan who is most arrogant. Allah says no doubt about it, my slaves, you will have NO authority over them. When we call Allah RABB we are His IBAAD and slaves so that means Shaytaan can have no authority over us if we become slaves of Allah.
We should be in a state of wudhu and physical cleanliness in addition to seeking Allah's protection through spiritual duaas and Quran

الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ

(the same Evil one) who whispers into the Hearts of mankind

.
Allah first called him waswaas and then said he whispers into the chest of mankind. That is his job and he does it so Allah is re emphasising it. He whispers into the chest of the people. Sadrr is zarf makaan(it is a place). Allah did not use the word hearts but he used the word CHEST. The heart is like a castle and there is an open real estate around it, Allah gave him access to the area around the castle but not INTO the castle. The only one who has the key to the door is US. Shaytaan is waiting to pounce and enter the heart. WE let him enter into our heart by leaving the doors open. When imaan leaves the heart, evil deeds are beautified for us. Evil deeds are disgusting to us when we have imaan and they are tempting to us when we lose imaan. If we let Shaytaan make his way in, he will beautify evil for us

مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَ النَّاسِ

Among the jinns and the men

Sometimes Allah mentions humans first and sometimes jinns first. When Allah talks about animosity against the Prophet SAWW, he mentions people first and when the context is whispering and waswasa then Allah mentioned jinn first. If a human being whispers something, then it might be his own idea and might be from Shaytaan so Allah mentions the SOURCE first which is Shaytaan. Ibleees uses jinn and people to conduct his waswasa.  Shaytaan uses people as puppets to transmit waswasa. He uses technology to give waswasa.

Connections between Surah falq and surah fatiha

This Surah is connected to Surah Falq and Surah fatiha. Prophet SAWW's sunnah was to finish Quran and then recite Surah Fatiha immediately as this teaches us that there is no end to completing Quran and we should start over again, and these two surahs have powerful connections. In Surah fatiha we ask for Istiaaana HELP, and in this surah we ask for Istiaaza PROTECTION from people who are trying to keep us from that task. Sarah fatiha has Rabbil aalameen and maaliki youmiddin and iyyaka nabudu which are the same 3 names mentioned in Surah naas. Sarah fatiha is more positive so rahmah word is used and Surah naas has a more negative theme as it mentions evil so rahmah is not used. This surah begins with asking for protection and Surah fatiha ENDS with asking for protection so they have a reciprocal relationship. Aauzu is a singular world used in Surah naas, and Surah fatiha has a plural word iyyaka nabudu wa iyyaka nastaeen. Surah Fatiha was more about general collective guidance as an umma, while Surah Naas is about individual guidance. There are two possible sources of evil influences in Surah naas, jinn and humans. Sarah fatiha is about two negative influences, maghzoobi alaiyhim and zaaleen. Everything that came before iyyaka nabudu in Surah fatiha is linked to iyyaka nabudu, and iyyaka nastaeen is linked to the second half of surah fatiha.  Sarah naas had two halves, about mustaaz bihi and mustaaz minhu (the one who's protection is sought and the one from whom protection is sought)

Our human race was sent to Earth because of the waswasa of Shaytaan so it all started with the waswasa of Shaytaan. Ibleees said you won't find most people grateful and they will disobey you, and Surah Fatiha begins with us starting with hamdd and gratitude of Allah. Shaytaan revealed what was hidden under their clothes(their hayaa) so that is the strongest attack of shaytaan.

The Quran begins and ends with duaa so duaa is extremely important. Don't underestimate the power of duaa.