By Abul A'la Maududi
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 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.
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.