'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Falaq

This surah, Ibn Abbas said, is Medinan, and Qatadah said, it is Meccan.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿Say, 'I seek refuge with the Lord of the daybreak'﴾ ﴿'From the evil of that which He created'﴾ ﴿'And from the evil of the darkening night when it comes'﴾ ﴿'And from the evil of the blowers in knots'﴾ ﴿'And from the evil of an envier when he envies'﴾

The address is to the Prophet ﷺ, and what is meant is him and the individuals of his nation.

Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jubair, Al-Hasan, Al-Qurtubi, Qatadah, and Ibn Zayd said: 'Al-Falaq' means the dawn, as His saying, exalted is He: ﴿'He who splits the dawn'﴾ [Al-An'am: 96]. Ibn Abbas also said, along with a group from the Companions and the Tabi'in, that Al-Falaq is a pit in Hell, and it was narrated by Abu Huraira from the Prophet ﷺ.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿'From the evil of that which He created'﴾ encompasses every existing thing that has evil. Amr ibn Ubaid and some of the Mu'tazila who claim that Allah, exalted is He, did not create evil read 'from evil' with a tanween, 'that which He created' in the context of negation. This reading is rejected and based on a false doctrine, for Allah, exalted is He, is the Creator of all things.

People differed regarding 'the darkening night when it comes.' Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Al-Hasan said: the darkening night is the night, and 'when it comes' means it becomes dark and enters upon the people. The poet said:

Indeed, this night has darkened, and I complained of worry and sorrow.

And Muhammad ibn Kab said: 'the darkening' is the day 'when it comes' means it enters into the night. Ibn Zayd said about the Arabs: the darkening is the falling of the Pleiades, and diseases and plagues are stirred up at that time. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'The star is the darkening,' so it is possible that he meant the Pleiades. And he said, peace be upon him, to Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her - and he had looked at the moon -: 'Seek refuge with Allah from the evil of the darkening when it comes, for this is it.' And Al-Qatabi and others said: it is the full moon when it enters into its period of decline, and Al-Zuhri said: the darkening when it comes is the sun when it sets, and 'when it comes' in the speech of the Arabs means 'entered.'...

And 'the blowers in knots' refers to sorceresses, and it is said that the reference is primarily to the daughters of Labid ibn al-A'sam, the Jew, who were sorceresses, and they were the ones who bewitched the Prophet ﷺ, and they tied eleven knots for him. So Allah, exalted is He, revealed eleven verses corresponding to the number of knots, which are the two chapters of seeking refuge, and the Prophet ﷺ was cured. And 'the blowing' is similar to blowing without spitting saliva. This blowing is done on knots and similar things in the name of the bewitched, and it harms by that. This practice is commonly found in our time in the deserts of the Maghreb. A trustworthy person informed me that he saw among some of them a red thread that had knots tied in it on the tails, so it prevented the suckling of their mothers. So when a knot was untied, that suckling would run to its mother immediately and suckle. May Allah, exalted is He, protect us from the evil of sorcerers by His power. Abdullah ibn al-Qasim, Al-Hasan, and Ibn Umar read 'the blowers.'

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿'And from the evil of an envier when he envies'﴾, Qatadah said: from the evil of his eye and his soul, meaning the wicked striving and harm that he intends; for he is a diligent enemy who tests. The poet said:

All enmity can be hoped to be ended, except the enmity of one who envies you out of jealousy. And the eye of the envious is often a trap. We seek refuge with Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, from its evil. The poet said: 'And when Allah intends to spread a virtue, He allows the tongue of an envious one to speak of it.' And envy in the two cases that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, mentioned: is a commendable envy that is not harmful, and it is merely a motivator for good. This surah consists of five verses. Some of the skilled ones said it is what people mean by saying to the envious when he looks at them: 'Five upon your eyes.' The common people have erred in this by pointing with their fingers because it is five. Abu Amr tilted the word 'envier,' while the others pronounced the 'h' with a fatha. Al-Hasan ibn al-Fadl said: Allah, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned the evils in this surah and then concluded it with envy to show that it is the most despicable nature. The interpretation of Surah [Al-Falaq] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.