1. As in Surah al-Falaq, three divine attributes, rather than the name of Allah, are invoked for seeking His refuge. First, mention is made of His being the Lord of mankind. Then, reference is made to His being the King of mankind. Finally, His being the True God is asserted. Let us bear in mind the ilah has two meanings in the Qur'an: (i) A thing or being that has no claim to divinity yet it is being worshipped and (ii) the Being Who deserves worship and is the True God, no matter whether people worship Him or not. Iläh is used of Allah in the latter sense. The verse thus signifies invoca- tion to the Lord, King and True God of mankind Who wields total power and can fully protect His servants. He is able to protect man against all evil. There is no one other than Him to be approached for such protection.

2. As to the Qur'ānic expression, waswās al-khannās the former means the prompting of evil, without its realization by the victim. This prompting is recurrent in order to misdirect man. Thus, the word waswas carries the connotation of repeated promptings of evil. As to khannās, it is used of the elusive prompter, who returns again and again. Being the intensive form, this word is used of one who does so recurrently. Being an elusive prompter he approaches man over and over again. When he does not succeed in deluding someone by his whisperings, he withdraws. But then he returns again and again.

With this definition in mind one should find out the meaning and significance of seeking protection against him. At one level, it is the invocation for protection against his evil. At another, it is protection against the evil of him who discredits a caller to truth. It is not possible for the preacher to reach everyone who has been exposed to negative propaganda against him. He cannot clear all the doubts and allegations against him. It does not befit him either to abandon his call and devote all his time and energy to refuting the baseless charges against him. He cannot descend to the low level of his detractors. Accordingly, Allah directs the callers to truth to only seek protection against such evil and then focus on their mission. Allah being the Lord, King and God of mankind will deal with these evil-doers.

It is also worth noting that a negligent person is liable to be car- ried away by promptings of evil. He is inclined towards evil and the repeated whisperings prompt him to do evil. Thus, he decides to in an evil act. This invocation is at the initial stage of committing evil. Allah's protection will eliminate evil at its beginning.

Another perspective will be that the prompters of evil first incite people to indulge in unbelief, polytheism, atheism or rebellion or opposition to Allah and His Messenger. However, on failing to do so, they mislead believers into practising innovations. Or at least, they prompt one to do evil. If they do not succeed in this, they incite one to commit, at least, minor sins so that their repeated commit- ment may entail some punishment for man. If one does not fall a prey to this, they exhort one to restrict himself to his true faith, without bothering to spread it. If one is resolute enough to with- stand all these promptings of devils from among the jinn or men, they pounce upon one and try to discredit one, inciting people to accuse and abuse him. Then these devils ask that pious person not to bear with his opponents in that it betrays cowardice. Instead, he should take on his opponents valiantly. This is the last weapon in Satan's armoury which he employs for obstructing the call to truth and for distracting the caller to truth. However, if the latter withstands even this onslaught of Satan, he cannot be harmed in any way by him. The Qur'an states:

And if it happens that a prompting from Satan should stir you up, seek refuge with Allah.

(al-A'raf 7: 200)

And pray: "My Lord! I seek Your refuge from the suggestions of the evil ones."

(al-Mu'minun 23:97)

If the God-fearing are instigated by any suggestion of Satan, they instantly become alert, whereafter they clearly perceive the right way.

(al-A'raf 7: 201)

Regarding those who blunt Satan's last weapon, Allah says: "They are the ones endowed with mighty good fortune," (Ḥā Mīm al-Sajdah 41: 35).

Not only the devils from among the jinn and men, but man's own base self prompts him to do evil. His false notions and base desires distort his discernment. That man is misled by his own base self is mentioned thus in the Qur'an: "We know the prompt- ings of his heart" (Qaf 50: 16). Little wonder then that the Prophet (peace be upon him) made this supplication in his sermon: "We seek Allah's refuge from the evil of our own hearts."

3. Some interpret the verse in the sense that the prompter whis- pers into the hearts of jinn and men. Taken thus al-nās will apply to both jinn and men. They vindicate their standpoint, stating that the Qur'anic expression rijāl (men) is used of jinn in Verse 6 of al- Jinn. Likewise nafar is employed for a group of jinn in Verse 29 of al-Ahqaf. Therefore al-näs figuratively includes both jinn and men. However, it is an untenable position. For, in Arabic lexicon nās (men) is used in contradistinction to jinn. Literally, jinn refers to hidden, invisible beings whereas al-nās is used specifically of man in that he is a visible creature. In Verse 29 of al-Qaṣaṣ 'ānasa is used with reference to the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) spotting a fire in the direction of Mount Tür. The same holds true for the use of 'ānastum in Verse 6 of al-Nisa' for orphan children. Arabic lexicon does not admit the application of näs to jinn. The verse carries only this meaning: from the evil of the prompter whether he be from the jinn or humans. It is evident that whisperings for doing evil are carried out by devils from among both jinn and humans. The Surah exhorts that Allah's protection be sought against the evil of both. This point features elsewhere in the Qur'an thus:

And so it is that against every Prophet We have set up the evil ones from among human beings and jinn, some of them in- spire others with specious speech only by way of delusion. (al-An'am 6: 112)

The same is elucidated thus in this Ḥadith narrated by Abū Dharr: "I called on the Prophet (peace be upon him) while he was seated in the mosque. He asked me whether I had offered Prayers. When I replied in the negative, he directed me to rise and pray. Accordingly, I prayed and joined him again. He then told me: 'O Abu Dharr! Seek Allah's protection against the devils from among jinn and humans.' I asked him whether there are devils from among humans. To this, he replied in the affirmative," (Aḥmad, Nasa'ī and Ibn Hibban).