Allah answers those who plead with Him and seek His protection. This surah and the one that follows it teach us how to seek God’s protection against all kinds of ill-feelings and evil intentions, which we constantly encounter in life. God says, “We try you with evil and good to test you” (al-Anbiya’: 35); and: “We have tried them [the Israelites] with adversity and prosperity, so that they might mend their ways” (al-Araf: 168).

Evil and harm may come from numerous sources: germs, insects, animals, and people. They may strike at daybreak or in the middle of the night, the latter being a popular time with thieves, criminals, and merchants of death and corruption.

One seeks refuge also from “the mischief of conjuring witches,” a reference to sorcery and witchcraft, which some people believe to exist, ascribing them to devils and evil spirits, human as well as jinn. Ibn Hazm, the Andalusian scholar, and the Zahirite school of Islamic fiqh reject the belief in sorcery, as the idea is often intertwined with a great deal of mythology and folklore and must be approached with considerable skepticism.

One needs to seek God’s protection against envy, which reflects a hatred of other fellow humans and an evil desire to see them deprived of comfort and success.

A great deal is also said in folklore about the “evil eye,” most of which is false and exaggerated, but there is no harm in seeking refuge with God from its possible damaging effects.

By Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali

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