Ayah 2:
مِن شَرّ مَا خَلَقَ
Min sharri ma khalaq
From the evil of that which He created
Sharr -
3 words used for Bad in Qur'an;
Sharr is the opposite of khayr. Universally known as evil, that which will cause someone harm.
Sharaara - a fire spark that can harm you.
bi'sa - when you feel something is detestable. (bi'sa sharaab). It's opposite is Ni'ma (completely
enjoyable.)
Sa'a (sayi'a) - Evil and Ugly, deformed, disfigured, hideous. its opposite is Hasuna (beautiful).
Min Sharri maa khalaq
The Sharri of what He created.
I seek refuge in Allah from what He Created. The One who created it - He can save you from it. He has power over His creation.
Sharr is not attributed to Allah, but to Khalq (creation) in this ayah. Some 'ulama (scholars) said; The general rule is that evil is not an entity by itself, but it is a lack of good. Just like darkness is a lack of light.
This ayah has profound lessons in it, because Allah did not reduce it to shayateen (devils) only, but to the evil that He has created. The only One without flaws is Allah. Everything else will have some flaws; The sun, the water, the Earth, the human - every single creation will have potential harms within it. So we are asking Allah to protect us from the potential harms of everything which He has created.
Now it is getting more specific.
Ayah 3:
وَمِن شَرّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ
Wa min sharri ghasiqin idha waqab
"And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness
Ghaasiqin
ghasaq - the first part of the night. When the blue sky has gone and the sky is black.
aqimi as-salata li dulooq ash-shamsi ghasaq al layl. - establish the prayer.. At the first part of the night? - quran
The word Ghaasiq in arabic literature refers to that which disappears. I.e. When the sun disappears, and it has become dark.
Ghasaq al Qamar - Lunar Eclipse.
Ghasaqat as-Samaa' - when the clouds cover the sky, so the sky disappears from our vision..
Min sharri ghaasiqin - from the evils of the night.
Allah's Messenger discouraged his companions from going out at night.
"If you knew what I knew, you would not go out at night."
The shayateen/devils meet at the oceans at night. In our society - people act like the devils, at the night times. (Nightclub? Etc.) drugs, alcohol etc. So there is an evil in the night times. The potential of evil is greater. So we ask Allah to protect us from that dark evil.
Waqab - linguistically also means Darkness.
So it is like we are asking Allah to protect us from the evil of the darkness as it darkens. So why is a different word (waqab) used?
Waqab -
waqab ad-dhalam - darkness so things become invisible. there's a ditch in a mountain at night, so when something falls into it - you cannot see it. That is waqaba.
So there are things in the night (including shayateen/devils) which you cannot see.
A'oodhu / 'iyyaadh - seeking protection from things you cannot see. When there are things lurking in the night which you cannot see.
But Ghaasiq usually refers to the moon. And the moon - according to studies - affects the tides of the oceans. The human body also has affects by the magnetic forces of the moon, and people tend to become more violent.
The whole genre of mythical wear wolves is an exaggeration of how people become much more violent within the night time, and aggravated during certain cycles of the moon. This is what the word Lunatic/crazy comes from - the word Lunar (moon). Because people recognized that the moon affected peoples behaviour during the night.
Allah teaches us about things we are not fully aware of.
Guys/boys/men who hang out late at night alot, they need to quit doing so. They cannot be reciting this and contradicting the teachings of Allah's Messenger.
