Commentary
And when he mentioned the description of the one from whom refuge is sought, he highlighted his attribute by action and said: ﴿The one who whispers﴾, meaning he casts harmful meanings in the guise of subtlety and repetition, such that their concepts reach without being heard. He indicated the abundance of his whispering by mentioning the chest, which is the arena of the heart and its dwelling, saying: ﴿In the chests of people﴾, meaning those who are troubled when they become heedless of the remembrance of their Lord. For indeed, they are the corridors of the hearts, through which the incoming thoughts enter. This is like the imaginary power, for the mind assists in the true premises that produce the matter that is conclusively established. When the matter reaches that point, the imagination becomes silent as soon as the mind becomes somewhat lax about the result for a while. Then the imagination takes over in whispering and accepts from it the nature that has a resemblance to the imaginary darkness. And people - it was said in the dictionary: it can be from humans and from jinn. The plural of ins is originally unās, the plural of ʿazīz, which has been added to it [the article 'al' -] - it has ended. And perhaps his application to these two opposites is in consideration of the state of nows, whose origin is disturbance and wavering, thus it may be formed from the two origins: humans and nows, and from a third, which is forgetfulness.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah An-Nas verse 5