It is Meccan, and it is said to be Medinan, and its verses are 5. "It was revealed after the Elephant." 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.'

Al-Falaq and Al-Farq: the dawn, because the night is split from it and is divided: an action meaning the object acted upon. It is said in the proverb:

He is clearer than the splitting of dawn, and than the dividing of dawn. From it is their saying: Al-Furqan shone when dawn broke.

It is said: It is everything that Allah splits, such as the earth from vegetation, the mountains from springs, the clouds from rain, the wombs from children, and the seeds and stones, and others. It is said: It is a valley in Hell, which is derived from their saying when it is settled from the earth: Al-Falaq. The plural is Falaqan.

And from some of the companions, he came to Ash-Sham and saw the houses of the people of dhimmah and what they were in of ease of living and what was made spacious for them of their worldly affairs, so he said: I do not care, is there not behind them Al-Falaq? It was said: And what is Al-Falaq? He said: A house in Hell, when it is opened, all the people of the Fire scream from its intense heat.

From the evil of what He created, from the evil of His creation. And their evil: what the accountable ones do.

Mahamud said: "Its meaning is from the evil of His creation," meaning from the evil of what the accountable ones do... etc. Ahmad said: It does not suffice him according to his corrupt principle, which is among what falls under this seeking refuge, except to direct the evil to what he believes to be the creator of his actions, or to what is not an actor of it at all, like the inanimate: as for directing the seeking refuge to what Allah does with His servants of types of trials and calamities, no, because he believes that Allah does not create the actions of animals, rather they create them because it is evil, and Allah does not create it due to its ugliness: all of this is a branching from the principle of goodness and what is better, which has been clarified as corrupt, until some of the Qadarites distorted the verse, so he read: from the evil of what He created with the tanween on evil and made what a negation.

From the evil of the animals of sins and misdeeds, and the harm of some of them to each other from oppression and transgression and killing and beating and cursing and others, and what the non-accountable ones do of it from eating and biting and stinging and biting like the wild animals and insects, and what Allah has placed in the inanimate from types of harm like burning in fire and killing by poison.

Al-Ghasiq: the night when its darkness thickens, from His saying: "Until the darkness of the night." And from it: "The eye became filled with tears," and "The wound became filled with blood."

And its entering: its darkness entering into everything. And it is said: The sun has set when it has disappeared.

In the hadith: When he saw the sun had set, he said: This is when it is permissible, meaning the Maghrib prayer.

It is said: It is the moon when it is full, and from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, took my hand and pointed to the moon and said: Seek refuge in Allah from the evil of this, for it is Al-Ghasiq when it sets.

It was narrated by Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i, Al-Hakim, Ahmad, Ishaq, Ibn Abi Shaiba, and Abu Ya'la, all of them from the path of Ibn Abi Dhiyab from Khalid Al-Harith ibn Abdul Rahman from Abu Salama from her.

And its entering: its entering into eclipse and its darkening. And it is permissible that Al-Ghasiq refers to the black of the snakes: and its entering: its striking and piercing.

And the [waqb] is the [naqb]. From it is [waqbat al-tharid], and seeking refuge from the evil of the night because its spread therein is greater, and guarding against it is more difficult. From it is their saying: 'The night is more concealing of woe.' And their saying: 'The night is treacherous,' because when it darkens, treachery increases in it, and evil is attributed to it due to its association with the occurrence of [al-naffathat] women, or souls, or groups of sorceresses who tie knots in threads and blow upon them. [Mahamood said: 'They are the sorceresses who tie knots in the threads and blow upon them... etc.' Ahmad said: 'It has been previously established that the principle of the Qadarites is the denial of the reality of magic, whereas the Book and the Sunnah have confirmed its occurrence and the command to seek refuge from it. The Prophet ﷺ was bewitched with a comb and hair in a dry palm leaf. The hadith is well-known, but al-Zamakhshari was provoked by desire to deny what is known, and it is only that he follows his denial and covers the face of the gazelle with his hand.'] And they [al-naffathat] recite incantations: and the [naffth] is the blowing from saliva, and there is no effect in that. [The saying 'and there is no effect in that' is based on the doctrine of the Mu'tazila that magic has no reality and no effect. The people of Sunnah affirm its reality and its effect based on the apparent meaning of the Book and the Sunnah. (A)] Except if there is feeding of something harmful, or giving it to drink, or causing it to smell, or direct contact with the bewitched person in some ways. But Allah, the Exalted, may act at that time in a manner of testing, by which the steadfast upon the truth are distinguished from the ignorant and the common people, and the ignorant and the rabble attribute it to them and to their blowing, while the steadfast in the firm saying do not pay attention to that nor care about it. If you say: What is the meaning of seeking refuge from their evil? [Mahamood said: 'If you say: What is the meaning of seeking refuge from their evil, and he answered... etc.' Ahmad said: 'This is from the first class, and he has set it aside. If someone else interpreted [al-naffathat] in the knots as mere imaginations of women and they are not sorceresses until he completes the denial of the existence of magic: he would be counted among those who abandon interpretations.'] I say: There are three aspects: the first is to seek refuge from their actions, which is the craft of magic, and from their sin in that. The second is to seek refuge from their seduction of people with their magic and what they deceive them with from their falsehood. The third is to seek refuge from what Allah may inflict of evil upon the one who is bewitched at their blowing, and it may be intended by them the cunning women, from His saying: 'Indeed, your cunning is great,' likening their cunning to magic and blowing in the knots. Or those who seduce men by exposing themselves and displaying their beauty to them, as if they enchant them with that when envy arises if their envy becomes apparent and they act upon it: from the evils that the envious person wishes for the envied, because if the effect of what he has concealed does not appear, then no harm returns to the one he envies, rather he is harmful to himself for being distressed by the happiness of others. And from Umar ibn Abdul Aziz: 'I have not seen a wrongdoer more resembling the wronged than an envious person.' And it may be intended by the evil of the envious: his sin and the ugliness of his state at the time of his envy, and the manifestation of its effect. If you say: The saying 'from the evil of what He created' is general in all that one seeks refuge from, what is the meaning of seeking refuge after it from the ghasiq, the naffathat, and the envious? I say: The evil of these is specified from all evil due to the obscurity of its matter, and that it befalls a person from where he does not know, as if he is ambushed by it. And they said: The evil of the enemies is the hidden one that plots against you from where you do not feel. If you say: Then why is some of what is sought refuge from defined and some of it is indefinite? I say: The naffathat are known, because every naffatha is evil, and the ghasiq is indefinite, because not every ghasiq contains evil, rather it is in some and not in others, and likewise every envious person does not harm. And there is a praiseworthy envy, which is the envy in good things. From it is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: 'There is no envy except in two cases.' [Agreed upon from the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, and from the hadith of Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, and al-Bukhari from the hadith of Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him.] And Abu Tammam said: 'And no envious person in the noble matters is an envious person.' [And indeed, I am envied and I excuse my envious one... and my envious one in the noble matters is not an envious one.]

Abu Tammam says: I am one who gathers praiseworthy qualities, so envy is a metaphor for that. And an excuse is excused like a strike is struck, meaning: my envious ones are excused for my good and great qualities, and the envious one in praiseworthy qualities is not a blameworthy envious one, but rather one who is pleased and praised.

And he said:

Indeed, excellence is good in its like, envy.

So boast, for there is no sky of excellence that has risen... except that your good deeds are its pillars.

And excuse your envious one for what you have been specially granted... indeed, excellence is good in its like, envy.

Abu Tammam. He compared the elevated status to the sky, and borrowed it for him in a clear manner, and elevation is a recommendation, because it is specific to the tangible things. He compared beautiful actions to the pillars of the sky in a profound simile, because through them is the moral elevation.

From the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: "Whoever recites the two protectors, it is as if he has recited all the books that Allah, the Exalted, has revealed." This was narrated by Al-Thalabi, Ibn Mardawayh, and Al-Wahidi with their chains to Abu ibn Ka'b, and it has been mentioned more than once that it is weak, and that the raised hadith regarding it is fabricated, and Allah knows best.