SURAH AN-NAS                                                                                            سورة الناس      

Makkiyyan  according to Jabir, ^Ata’, and others and

Madiniyyan according to one of the two sayings of Ibn ^Abbas. 

It is the same as the one before it because both were revealed together.

Comprised of six (6) ayahs.

THE EXPLANATION

1.  {قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ}

Qul ((قل means 'say', that is,  O Muhammad, say a^udhu ( أعوذ) which  means 'I seek refuge'. Bi Rabbin-nas ( برب الناس) means, 'with Allah the Lord of mankind.'  Lord of Mankind is the Owner and Creator of mankind.  Al-^Izz Ibn ^Abd as-Salam said: When Allah ordered us to seek refuge from the evil of the devil, He informed us that it is Allah with Whom we seek refuge. 

2.  {مَلِكِ النَّاسِ}

Since there are kings among mankind Allah mentioned that He is the King of all mankind.

3.  {إِلَهِ النَّاسِ}

And since among mankind there are some who unrightfully worship other than Allah, Allah made it known that He is the God of mankind. That is, He is the One Who controls everything and He is the one who owns everything.  He raises the status of whomever He willed and degrades whomever He willed.  He is the only One Who is worshipped rightfully.  No one deserves to be worshipped but Him.  Worship is the extreme humbling of oneself.  The great linguist and astute Imam, the honorable Taqiyyud-Din ^Aliyy Ibn ^Abd al-Kafi as-Subkiyy said in Al-Fatawa: Worship is the utmost submission and humbling oneself.

4.  {مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ}

That is, from the evil of the one who whispers, who is the devil.  Al-waswasah              (الوسوسة), whispering 'is the evil talk to oneself.'  Imam Al-Bukhariyy said that Ibn ^Abbas said:  Al-waswas (الْوَسْوَاسِ ) means 'when the child is born the devil whispers to him. If the name of Allah is mentioned the devil quits and departs, and if Allah is not mentioned the devil establishes himself over the child's heart.'  Ar-Raghib said:  The ayah {مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ    الْخَنَّاسِ} means:  I seek refuge with Allah from the devil who withdraws in humiliation whenever Allah is mentioned. 

5.  {الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ}

As-Sudur (الصدور) in this ayah means 'the hearts.' Al-^Izz Ibn ^Abd as-Salam said: Yuwaswisu (يوسوس) means 'calls to his obedience by that which reaches into the hearts.'  Imam Muslim and Ahmad (in his Musnad) narrated --the terms are that of Muslim--from the route of Sufyan that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: 

<<  ما منكم من احد الا و قد وكل به قرينه من الجن و قرينه من الملائكة قالوا و اياك يا رسول الله قال و اياى الا ان الله اعانني عليه فاسلم فلا يامرني الا بخير>>

This means:  <<Each and every one of you has been assigned a companion from the jinns and a companion from the angels.  They said, 'Also you, O Messenger of Allah?'  He said, 'Even me, however, Allah helped me over him (the devil), so he embraced Islam, and he only orders me with goodness.'>>

            It is important to note that it is not permissible for anyone to believe that the devil enters and/or possesses any of the prophet's bodies.

6.  {مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ}

Al-jinnah (الجنة) is the jinns.  Ibn al-Jawziyy said:  There are two sayings regarding the meaning of this ayah. The first is that the devil whispers into the hearts of an-nas (النَّاسِ) which include the jinn and the mankind.  Allah called the jinns here nas (ناس) as He called them rijala (رجالا) in Surah al-Jinn, 6: { يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِنَ الْجِنِّ }and Allah called them nafarun (نفر) in Surah al-Jinn, 1: ِ{ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ مِنَ الْجِنّ }. This is the saying of al-Farra’ and according to this saying the word al-waswas (الْوَسْوَاسِ) means the devil whispers to the jinn as he whispers to mankind.

            The second saying is that al-waswas (الْوَسْوَاسِ) (the devil), who calls the hearts of mankind to his obedience, is from the jinns.  The meaning would be:  from the evil of al-waswas (الْوَسْوَاسِ) who is among the jinns. Moreover, the saying of Allah wan-nas { والناس }  is linguistically in conjunction with the saying of Allah al-waswas { الوسواس }. Thereby the meaning would be: I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of al-waswas (الْوَسْوَاسِ) and the evil of  an-nas (النَّاسِ), so as if Allah ordered us to seek refuge from the jinns and mankind.  This is the saying of az-Zajjaj.

            Qadi ^Iyad said:  Chapter.  Know that the nation unanimously agree that the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is impeccable from the devil and is protected from him both, of all things harmful in the body and all whisperings in thoughts.  Then he said in the following chapter: 'as to the sayings of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, the proofs stand clear by virtue of his miracles that he is truthful.  The nation hold the consensus that pertaining to the matters that can only be known through conveyance, the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is impeccable from conveying them contrary to what they are neither intentionally, nor purposely, nor forgetfully, nor erroneously.'