Surah e Falak

 

1) Say: I take refuge with the Lord of daybreak 2) from the evil of what He created, 3) from the evil of darkness as it gathers, 4) from the evil of those who blow on knots, 5) and from the evil of the envious when he envies.

“Say,” in order to take refuge “I take refuge” recourse, shelter and hold fast to “the Lord of daybreak,” the Cleaver of the seed and kernel,^[1] the Cleaver of the sky at dawn.^[2] “From the evil of what He created,” all that Allah created: man, jinn and animal. Therefore one takes refuge with their Creator from the evil they contain.^[3]

Next, Allah lists specific cases subsumed by the general import of the previous verse: “from the evil of darkness as it gathers,” i.e. from the evil of what happens at night when darkness envelops man, when many evil souls and harmful creatures disperse therein. “From the evil of those who blow on knots,”i.e. witches who would blow on knots to aid them in their sorcery which they had tied in the ways of their secret art. “From the evil of the envious when he envies,” the envier is one who wishes to see the removal of the blessings he sees in the envied, and does his utmost to have them removed. Man is therefore in need of seeking refuge from his evil and in order to render his plots vain. Included in the category of the envier is someone who afflicts others with the evil-eye because this only ever emanates from one who is envious and has an evil nature.

This chapter covers seeking refuge from all types of evil: general and specific. It also proves that magic is something real, its harm should be feared, and that one should take refuge with Allah from it and from those who practice it.^[4]