Surah Al-Falaq 113:1-5 - Quran Translation Commentary

2. According to a hadith quoted by Abu Hurayrah falaq is a pocket in Hell covered by a lid. (But the hadith is weak: S.Ibrahim).

Ibn `Abbas, Suddi and Muhammad b. Ka`b al-Qurazi are very near that report when they say that it is a prison in Hell. So are others who say it is another name of Hell.

But Ibn `Abbas, Hasan, Sa`id b. Jubayr, Jabir b. `Abdullah and many others have also said that falaq is daybreak. This in fact, is the preferred meaning since daybreak is the first meaning that strikes an Arab when he hears the word falaq. That of course does not exclude the possibility that it is also the name of a section in Hell (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). And, in view of Allah (swt) not confirming this or that, the question remains open. After all, Allah is the Lord of both (Ibn Jarir).

Generally speaking, the verse could mean that He who is able to disperse all darkness by the morn is also capable of sheltering people from all that they fear (Razi).

3. The translation has the backing of authorities such as Ibn `Abbas, Hasan, Muhammad b. Ka`b and Mujahid. But Abu Hurayrah has reported a hadith that says that the allusion is to a star, in which case waqab would mean “when it falls.” According to another report, narrated by `A’isha, the Prophet held her hand in a moonlit night, pointed to the moon and said: “Seek Allah’s refuge from this ghasiq when it sets.” (The report is also in Tirmidhi, who evaluates it as hasan sahih: Qurtubi and Nasa’i, who rates it trustworthy: Ibn Kathir). Therefore, to put it together, what the Prophet meant is that one ought to seek Allah’s refuge from any darkness that gathers. That is applicable to the evening, which when it sets in, spreads darkness; to the moon, as well as to the star since their setting is also followed by darkness (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

Razi adds: As regards the Prophet calling the moon ghasiq, Ibn Qutaybah has said that maybe when he said 'when it sets’ he meant 'when it eclipses.’ In fact, magicians get active only after the moon has disappeared leaving the earth unlit.

Ibn al-Qayyim writes: Note that when Musaylimah the Liar was asked to describe how his revelations came to him, he replied: “In extremely dark nights,” whereas when the Prophet was asked about how the revelations came to him, said: “In brightness, like that of a (well-lit) day.” From his statement itself we know that it was the Devil who visited Musaylimah as against the visits of Jibril. (Apart from the fact that what Musaylimah claimed as revelation was so much nonsense: Au.) It is significant therefore that we are told to seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak. The Prophet has in fact ordered us to withdraw the children into the homes after sunset because with darkness Satanic spirits begin to pour into the towns and dwellings.

4. The allusion by the texrual word "naffathat" is to the witches and magicians who tied knots in cords or strings and muttered over them magical formulae in their efforts to bewitch their victims. This is the opinion of Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and others (Ibn Jarir).

With regard to the feminine form of the verb, the speculation is that since it was the daughters of the Jew Labid b. A`sam who had blown into the knots to cast magic on the Prophet, that the feminine form has been adopted (Razi).

Ibn al-Qayyim comments: The above is not a very strong point for it was Labid who had cast the spell and not his daughters. Perhaps what is meant by the naffathat is the spirits and souls of those who blow, be they males or females. Hence the feminine form.

(Notwithstanding what Ibn al-Qayyim has said, it is not certain who had done the blowing on the knots. It is quite possible that the whole family was involved: Au).

The magicians, of course, have no power of their own and hence pose no danger to anyone, save by the will of Allah. But Allah allows magical effects to take place to test the people whether they would attribute the effects to the powers of the magicians and sorcerers or will they attribute all power to Allah and turn to Him for a cure (Zamakhshari).

Magical Spell on the Prophet

`A’isha is on record in Bukhari as saying:

كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - صلى الله عليه وسلم - سُحِرَ حَتَّى كَانَ يَرَى أَنَّهُ يَأْتِى النِّسَاءَ وَلاَ يَأْتِيهِنَّ . قَالَ سُفْيَانُ وَهَذَا أَشَدُّ مَا يَكُونُ مِنَ السِّحْرِ إِذَا كَانَ كَذَا . فَقَالَ « يَا عَائِشَةُ أَعَلِمْتِ أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَفْتَانِى فِيمَا اسْتَفْتَيْتُهُ فِيهِ ، أَتَانِى رَجُلاَنِ فَقَعَدَ أَحَدُهُمَا عِنْدَ رَأْسِى ، وَالآخَرُ عِنْدَ رِجْلَىَّ ، فَقَالَ الَّذِى عِنْدَ رَأْسِى لِلآخَرِ مَا بَالُ الرَّجُلِ قَالَ مَطْبُوبٌ . قَالَ وَمَنْ طَبَّهُ قَالَ لَبِيدُ بْنُ أَعْصَمَ ، رَجُلٌ مِنْ بَنِى زُرَيْقٍ حَلِيفٌ لِيَهُودَ ، كَانَ مُنَافِقًا . قَالَ وَفِيمَ قَالَ فِى مُشْطٍ وَمُشَاقَةٍ . قَالَ وَأَيْنَ قَالَ فِى جُفِّ طَلْعَةٍ ذَكَرٍ ، تَحْتَ رَعُوفَةٍ ، فِى بِئْرِ ذَرْوَانَ » . قَالَتْ فَأَتَى النَّبِىُّ - صلى الله عليه وسلم - الْبِئْرَ حَتَّى اسْتَخْرَجَهُ فَقَالَ « هَذِهِ الْبِئْرُ الَّتِى أُرِيتُهَا ، وَكَأَنَّ مَاءَهَا نُقَاعَةُ الْحِنَّاءِ ، وَكَأَنَّ نَخْلَهَا رُءُوسُ الشَّيَاطِينِ » . قَالَ فَاسْتُخْرِجَ ، قَالَتْ فَقُلْتُ أَفَلاَ أَىْ تَنَشَّرْتَ . فَقَالَ « أَمَا وَاللَّهِ فَقَدْ شَفَانِى ، وَأَكْرَهُ أَنْ أُثِيرَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنَ النَّاسِ شَرًّا »

“Magical spell was cast on the Prophet so that he thought he had been to his wives while he had not been to them.” (Sufyan interjected: “That’s the worst kind of magic”). `A’isha continued, saying that the Prophet told her: “Are you aware `A’isha, that Allah answered me when I sought His help (regarding certain matters)? Accordingly, two people came to me. One of them sat down near my head and the other near my feet. The one at the head asked the other, 'What’s wrong with this man?’ The other answered, 'He has been affected by magic.’ The first asked, 'Who did it?’ It was answered, 'Labid b. A`sam (a Jewish man of the Banu Zurayq, who had embraced Islam hypocritically).’ He inquired, 'By what?’ The other answered, 'By a comb and the hair (that are stuck in its teeth).’ The first asked: 'Where is it?’ The other answered, 'Under a rock in the well of Dharwan, hidden in a dried bark of a male date-palm tree.’ So the Prophet, continued `A’isha, went up to the well and got it removed. (According to some versions, He sent `Ali, Zubayr and `Ammar b. Yasir to the well and got it removed). After that he told me, 'This was the well I was shown. Its water was colored as if with henna. The date-palms (watered by the well) were as if the heads of the devil.’ I asked him, 'Why do you not you make (the affair) public?’ He replied, 'I do not wish to spread something that might cause evil to someone. (According to some reports he added: 'After all Allah has cured me.' And, according to other reports, the man admitted and when asked why, gave the simple reason: "In love of money." In any case, the Prophet pardoned him: Fath).’

Other reports (such as in Muslim, Nasa’i and Ahmad) suggest that a Jewish boy who served the Prophet was coaxed into stealing the comb and the hair. (Ibn Kathir).

As for the length of the spell on the Prophet, Ibn Kathir writes that it lasted a few days (ayyaaman), without quoting any hadith in support (Au.).

Reports also suggest that it was then that the last two chapters of the Qur’an were revealed and that Jibril had himself recited and blown them on the knots that had been tied on the teeth of the comb as he opened them one after another (Razi, Qurtubi, Alusi).

Alusi adds: Some people have refused to accept the reports of the Prophet being affected by magic on grounds that this throws his prophecy into doubt. But that’s not correct. What they have to understand, as pointed out by Qadi `Iyad, is that it had only a mild and physical effect on him (similar to the physical effects of bodily ailments: Au.). It had no effect on his mind or soul. As for the statement that he thought he had gone to his wives while he had not, it was not indicative of a mental affliction. It was something that everyone experiences in his sleep, and some even when awake. (As, for instance, one thinks he has placed the keys in the drawer, while he would not have. But no one would say that the man has lost control over his mind, although, undeniably, the Prophet’s case was slightly more serious: Au.).

Ibn al-Qayyim also writes: As for the objection that had the Prophet been affected by magic, the pagans would have had a good case against him who used to deride in the words of the Qur’an (17: 48):

“You follow not but a bewitched person.” Well, it is not an intelligent argument since a truly bewitched man loses control over his mind and body and does not know what he is saying or doing. (He does not even realize that he has been bewitched and does nothing to get himself cured. It is others who have to do it for him: Au.). Nor, continues Ibn al-Qayyim, were the pagans of earlier epochs of human history serious when they alleged that their prophets were bewitched. They leveled such allegations because they did not know what else to say. In the case of our Prophet also, they did not know how to give good grounds to their refusal and so had to take shelter behind such meaningless allegations. Accordingly, sometimes they said he was enchanted, at others that he was a poet, or that he had lost control over his senses, and so forth. Allah commented upon their allegations in words (17: 48):

“Behold, how they strike similitude for you.”

Cure for Magic

According to a hadith in Muslim, Jibril asked the Prophet: “Are you unwell?” He said: “Yes.” Jibril said:

“In the name of Allah I disenchant you; of everything that torments you, from the evil of every soul, and from everyone that envies may Allah cure you. In the name of Allah I disenchant you.”

It is reported in Muwatta’ that Ka`b (b. Malik) said: “If not for some words that I had learnt from the Torah, the Jews would have made a donkey of me (with their magic). Those words are: “I take refuge by the Face of Allah, the Mighty, greater than Whom nothing exists, and (I seek refuge) by the Complete Words, that neither the virtuous nor the wicked can overcome, and (I take refuge) by all the Good Names of Allah - with those that I know and those that I do not know - from the evil of what He has created: all that He scattered and originated” (Ibn al-Qayyim).

Ibn al-Qayyim also suggests ten ways by which one might protect himself from the effects of magic, the Evil Eye or envy. Those ways are topped by one’s efforts to strengthen faith in tawhid by trying and meeting with its demands and contemplating over the fact that the chain of events is firmly in the Hands of Allah without whose leave nothing can move, nor can the cycle of cause and effect work. He it is who protects, and He it is who heals (10: 107):

“If Allah visits you with an affliction, no one can remove it but He; and if He desires any good for you, no one can repel His bounty.”

The Prophet told Ibn `Abbas:

“Remember. If the people (of the world) unite on doing you a good, they will not be able to accomplish any of it save for what Allah has decreed for you. And, if they unite on causing you a harm, they would not be able to accomplish any of it save for what Allah has decreed for you.”

Therefore, when one fills his heart and mind with tawhid, it becomes empty of fear of all else, which itself acts as a protection, apart from the fact that Allah is the “Friend of the believers,” and “Defends the believers.” But this defending is to the extent and in proportion to how much the believer trusts Him, as some of the Salaf have said: If one turns to Allah wholly, He turns to him wholly. If he turns away from Allah wholly, He turns away from him wholly. But if someone is once this way and once that way, then Allah is also once this way and once that way with him. Tawhid then is the invincible fort against all evil.

Quotation from Ibn al-Qayyim ends here.

As precautionary measure, one may follow the following to escape the effects of magic and other evil influences:

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ - رضى الله عنهما - قَالَ كَانَ النَّبِىُّ - صلى الله عليه وسلم - يُعَوِّذُ الْحَسَنَ وَالْحُسَيْنَ وَيَقُولُ « إِنَّ أَبَاكُمَا كَانَ يُعَوِّذُ بِهَا إِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ:

Ibn `Abbas narrates that the Prophet (saws) used to seek Allah's refuge for Hasan and Husayn with the following words, and would say, 'Your father used to seek Allah's protection for Isma`il and Is-haq with these words':

"أَعُوذُ بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّةِ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ وَهَامَّةٍ ، وَمِنْ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لاَمَّةٍ » - صحيح البخارى

"I seek Allah's refuge - with the complete words – from every Shaytan, creeping poisonous creature, and from every sickening eye."

5. This is an open statement, that is, all those are included who envy or cast Evil Eye (Ibn Jarir).

6. What is meant by the last statement, “when he envies” is that when envy is translated into action (Zamakhshari, Shawkani).

Hasad

Certain kind of envies are lawful (Zamakhshari).

Qurtubi wrote: Hasad is that envy in which a man wishes that the person he envies lose the thing that he envies. In contrast, when one envies but does not wish the fall of the thing he envies, then that is known as munafasah or ghibt. Ghibt is lawful. Further, in the hadith which says that 'the two can be envied,’ the Prophet used the word hasad in the sense of ghibt (Qurtubi).

The hadith referred to by Qurtubi is in Bukhari and as follows: Ibn Mas`ud (ra) says the Prophet (saws) said,

“Hasad is not allowed but of two. One, a man whom Allah gave wealth and he is bent upon destroying it in the way of truth; and the other, the man whom Allah gave wisdom and he judges by it and teaches it to others” (Au.).

Hasad, it should noted, is the first sin committed in the heavens, when Iblis envied Adam, and the first sin committed on earth when Habil envied Qabil (Qurtubi).

The Evil Eye and Its Cure

In the present context some commentators have discussed the issue of Evil Eye, with Ibn al-Qayyim and Shanqiti going into greater details. Herewith is a summary of the two. To start with there is no difference of opinion among the scholars that Evil Eye is a fact. Indeed, there is a sahih hadith which says:

“Evil Eye is a fact.”

Another says:

“If anything could overtake Qadr, it could be the Evil Eye”

(The hadith is in Musnad Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. Suyuti has declared it sahih: Munawi - Au.).

Its effects on the people are undeniable. People have seen a man falling down on the road or running high temperature immediately after someone cast an Evil Eye on them. This happens when someone with a powerful spirit looks at another and remarks: “How beautiful!” or “How wonderful!” and the like. Kalbi has reported that there was an Arab who would starve himself for two or three days. Then he would choose a cattle as a herd passed by and say: “Oh, I haven’t seen a camel or a goat as beautiful as this one!” Then he would send his slave girl behind the herd with some money to fetch its meat. It wouldn’t be too long before the beast would fall (and the owners forced to slaughter and sell its meat). In fact, it is said that the verse (68: 51):

“The unbelievers well nigh strike you with their glances,” is speaking of the Evil Eye. Hence we find that Bukhari has devoted a whole chapter on the cure of the Evil Eye in which he reports `A’isha as saying: “The Prophet ordered me to seek cure for the Evil Eye with (a suitable) charm” (Ibn al-Qayyim).

Shanqiti adds: Muwatta’ has an incident recorded that, “Abu Sahl b. Hunayf removed his shirt for a bath. `Amir b. Rabi`ah was staring at him. He passed a remark at Abu Sahl’s beautiful skin: "I have never seen such a beautiful skin." Abu Sahl fell down right there in pain. Somebody went to the Prophet and told him that Abu Abu Sahl was in great pain and was not in a position to make it to him himself. The Prophet betook to him. Abu Sahl explained what had happened. The Prophet remarked: “Why do you want to kill your brother? Why did he (i.e. `Amir) not rather invoke Allah’s blessings (by saying Subhana Allah, or, Allahu Akbar, or Masha Allah, or the like: Au.).” Then he ordered that `Amir wash himself for Abu Sahl, which he did and Abu Sahl was cured.

As regards the washing, to remove the effects of the Evil Eye, it is reported of Zuhri that he described what his scholars prescribed as a cure: “The man who has cast the Evil Eye should be called. A tub filled with water should be held high above the ground. The man should cup his hand, scoop out water and gargling the water spit it back into the tray. Next he should wash his face once in the tub. Next scoop water with his left hand and splash the back of his right palm once. Next splash the back of the left hand with the right hand, once. Next scoop water with his left hand and splash it over his right elbow. Next scoop water with his right hand and splash it over the left elbow. Then scoop water with his left hand and splash it over his right foot, once, inside the tub. Next scoop water with the right hand and splash it over the left foot into the tub. Then scoop water with his left hand and splash it over his right knee. Next scoop water with his right hand and splash it over the left knee. Of course, all the time once, inside the tub, and while the tub is held above the ground. Finally, the inner loose end of his loin cloth over which the other loose end is tied up (and therefore is touching his skin, while it is not visible from outside, because of the external fold: Au.) be dipped into the water in the tub and rinsed. That over, the whole tub should be emptied over the affected man’s head in one go, from the rear, preferably without his knowledge. The tub itself be placed upside down behind him. (Quotation from Shanqiti ends here).

Concluding Remarks

In this surah Allah first exhorted us to seek refuge with Him generally from all that is evil. Then, (in the following verses) He specifically named three evil things (Shawkani).

It might also be noticed that while ghasiq and hasid are in nakirah form, al-naffathat is in ma`rifah form. This is because not every ghasiq or hasid intends evil and causes harm, whereas every naffath intends evil (Zamakhshari, Razi).