We all face fears we cannot name. And sometimes, our worst enemy is not outside; it’s within. Too often, we believe the greatest battles are fought in the world around us, forgetting that an entire world exists inside us: a world that can be peaceful, but also filled with chaos, turmoil, and confusion.
Beyond the visible, there is also the unseen world; real, living creatures created for the same purpose as us. Their influence, subtle and whispering, can unsettle even the strongest of hearts.
Imagine, the most noble and beloved among us bewitched? ﷺ. If the beloved Prophet of Allah is not safe from the evil of Mankind and the Jinns in respect to his human nature, to the exclusion of matters concerning revelation. Then, who do we seek against the evil that lurks?
It is here that the Qur’an gives us guidance, with two powerful Surah An-Nas & Al-Falaq (The Muawidhatayn):
On the authority of Uqbah bin `Amir that the Messenger of Allah said,
Do you not see that there have been Ayat revealed to me tonight the like of which has not been seen before. They are:
Say: “I seek refuge with, the Lord of the day break.”
and; Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind.” (Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi and
An-Nasa’i) – Hasan Sahih.
“Say:
I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind,
The God of mankind,
From the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.”
In these few verses, Allah commands those who want to seek protection, to seek refuge with Him alone—the One who is The Lord, The King, and The God—against the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.
Thus He informs us that:
He is the Lord of everything,
The King of everything and
The God of everything.
All things
Are created by Him,
Owned by Him, and
Subservient to Him.
Do we then seek protection from other than the one who possesses these attributes? while the whisperer works hard and all we need is to say these few verses.
And the Prophet (Alayhi Salam) said: No one beseeches with anything like these.
And no one is safe from the evil of the whisperer except those whom Allah protects. And there’s no son of Adam, except there’s a devil companion assigned to him, who is willing to go to any length to confuse him and beautify him evil deeds.
As the Prophet (ﷺ ) said;
There is not a single one of you except that his companion (a devil) has been assigned to him.
They (the Companions) said, “What about you, O Messenger of Allah!”
He replied,
Yes.
However, Allah has helped me against him and he has accepted Islam. Thus, he only commands me to do good.
Sa`id bin Jubayr reported that Ibn Abbas said concerning Allah’s statement,
The whisperer (Al-Waswas) who withdraws.
“The devil who is squatting (perched) upon the heart of the Son of Adam. So when he becomes absent-minded and heedless he whispers. Then, when he remembers Allah he withdraws.
These statements of Ibn Abass rahimahullah shows that remembering Allah is the crux of our being. When the soul is conscious of it’s lord—Allah, the whispers of the whisperer becomes weak and don’t carry any weight.
Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn Abbas said,
“A man came to the Prophet and said,
`O Messenger of Allah! Sometimes I say things to myself that I would rather fall from the sky than say (aloud openly).
The Prophet said,
Allah is Most Great!
Allah is Most Great!
All praise is due to Allah Who sent his
(Shaytan’s) plot back as only a whisper.”
Abu Dawud and An-Nasa’i also recorded this Hadith.
The statement of this Man and the response of the Prophet (pbuh) highlights the nature of man, and how human it is for us to have evil thoughts. And it also allows us to recognise that a thought doesn’t define who we are, and that there are devils squatting (perched) on the heart of mankind always prepared to make us slip and act against divine command, and even ourselves.
This is where we have to fight back. Inherently,the battle becomes easy when our soul is connected to Allah and we become conscious of him.
And then Allah says:
“Who whispers (evil) into the breasts of Mankind.
From among the jinn and Mankind.”
Here where Allah said:
“Who whispers in the breast of Man” is just to emphasize that this whisper occurs in the heart, and the heart is the core of our emotions. Although emotions and feelings originate from the brain, our hearts are the ones who feel these emotions making it easy for us to be manipulated by the whispers when our hearts become heedless of Allah.
And Allah further explains this by saying;
“From among the Jinn and Mankind”
Elaborating that the whisperer is not just from the unseen world but also amongst us—The humankind. When that friend of yours keeps calling you to evil, if your heart becomes heedless and disconnected from Allah, then subtly you might fall prey without even realising it.
And that’s why Allah directed us to recite this Surah to seek protection with Him from the evil whispers of the Jinns and the Mankind.
Allah said:
Say,
“I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak
From the evil of that which He has created
And from the evil of the darkness when it settles”
Here, Allah is instructing us to seek protection with “the lord of the daybreak”
That statement from Allah tells us that it is Allah who created the daybreak, which represents Allah’s ability to split the darkness and bring light.
“From the evil of that which He has created”
This means from the evil of all created things.
Thabit Al-Bunani and Al-Hasan Al-Basri both said,
“Hell, Iblis and his progeny, from among that which
He (Allah) created.”
Therefore, the day break can be seen as the time when Allah removes or exposes the evil that lurks in the darkness of the night as mentioned in the verse.
“And from the evil of the darkness when it settles”
As Ahmad recorded from Al-Harith bin Abi Salamah. He said that A’ishah said,
“The Messenger of Allah took me by my hand and showed me the moon when it rose, and he said, َ”Seek refuge with Allah from the evil of this Ghasiq when it becomes dark.”
At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa’i both recorded this Hadith in their Books of Tafsir in their Sunans.
And then Allah said:
“And from the evil of the blowers in knot
And from the evil of the envier when he envies”
Mujahid, Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak all said,
“This means the witches.”
Mujahid said,
“When they perform their spells and blow into the knots.”
In another Hadith it has been reported that Jibril came to the Prophet and said,
“Are you suffering from any ailment, O Muhammad”
The Prophet replied, Yes.
So Jibril said,
“In the Name of Allah, I recite prayer (Ruqyah) over you, from every illness that harms you, from the evil of every envious person and evil eye. May Allah cure you.”
This hadith further confirms that envy can lead to evil. This also means not all envy (hasad) is outwardly harmful. Sometimes a person might feel envy inside but never act on it.
The danger — the “evil” begins when envy is put into action, often through the evil eye (‘Ayn), malicious words, or attempts to harm.
So the verse highlights the moment envy becomes active harm — that’s when it’s most dangerous (evil) and why we need to seek Allah’s protection.
This article seeks to emphasise the great importance of these two Surahs (the Muawidhatayn)
It has been reported from Abu Sa`id that;
the Messenger of Allah used to seek protection against the evil eyes of the Jinns and mankind. But when the Muawwidhatayn were revealed, he used them (for protection) and abandoned all else besides them.
At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah recorded this.
At-Tirmidhi said, “This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.”
These verses are the easiest and shortest way to seek protection with Allah from all evil. Making it critical for all Muslim to understand its importance.
**All my references are from Tafsir Ibn kathir
**And all Qur’an Translation is from Sahih international except the first 4 verses of Surah An- Nas which was taken from tafsir ibn kathir translation.
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