Two Points of Eloquence:
1 - Min sharri ma khalaq ('aam - universal - applies to anything).
Then what is the point of mentioning what comes after (i.e. of magicians, enviers etc.), when they also come into this category?
Because Allah is making us alert that these specific harms are the WORST type from the evil that Allah has created; the night, sorcery, and jealousy.
2 - How come Allah put AL (THE) before some, while not placing it on others?
So what is the purpose of AL? because every single one of the them is evil.
And He made every dark night without the AL - because every single dark night is not necessarily evil (i.e. The Night of Qadr / Laylat-ul Qadr.)
And similarly, the jealous may not be able to harm someone. Even if he wants to. So the outcome is not necessary evil.
Secondly, this surah specifically dealt with the sorcerer - when it was revealed in the situation of Prophet Muhammad.
Start of Part 2:
When Allah says;
wa min sharrin-naf-fathaat fil 'uqad - and from the evil - ayah 4.
When this ayah was revealed - no-one knew that there were people doing magic and blowing knots.
Allah's Messenger did not even inform others of these sorcerers (who do these spells in the darkness of the night in secrecy).
These aayaat are specific to the magician blowing into knots, and Allah did not say;
Min sharri as-sahara - from the evil of the sorcerers/magicians.
To pinpoint the specific act that they are doing, Labeed bin 'Aasim and his family - they wondered how he found out about the specific evil spells (of naf-fath) they were doing. All this was from Wahy (Revelation) from Allah. To let them know that Allah's Messenger has the highest source of knowledge, even more than the knowledge of these devil worshipping magicians.
Shaykh Muhammad Qaasim Nanoodwi (one of the founders of Deoband) had a remarkable commentary on what this surah meant. Shabeer Ahmad Uthmani narrates this in his Tafseer Uthmani (in Urdu) - his [Shaykh Muhammad Qaasim's] commentary on surah Falaq;
Allah wants us to think of ourselves as a plant which the gardener protects the plant from. I.e. An animal like a goat will try to eat from this plant, it is not an enemy of the farmer - but it is part of its nature to eat from it.
The same way - the things like the darkness are not by themselves evil - but that is their nature.
Similar to a Shark, Lion etc. They naturally eat meat, but we percieve them as evil. So the gardener puts a fence around these plants to protect them. But the farmer needs to place the plant in a location where it can recieve enough sun, water, etc. The obstacle for the human is the darkness. Just like it is for the plant.
Ayah 3: Being overwhelmed from an outside element.
When sorcery is done on somebody - the person feels overwhelmed from within. The same way - if a plant is overwhelmed from outside sources i.e. Too much water, too much sun heat etc. It will get harmed and overwhelmed from these sources.
Ayah 4:
The farmer finally protects his plants from an outside enemy who tries to harm his plant. This might be due to jealousy - min sharri haasidin idha hasad - from the envier when he envies.
Allah wants to protect us from outside sources, and He wants us to humble ourselves and ask Him for that protection sincerely.
This surah was about protecting our bodies from outside harms. The next surah is about protection of our inside Nafs (self) against the evils from shaytan/satan and his whisperings etc.
Jealousy is a terrible thing except Allah's Messenger said;
A man who has been given wealth and he is exhausting himself in destroying it - spending it for the truth, your jealous of his attitude of wanting to throw away money for the sake of truth. And a man who Allah has given wisdom - and he judges by it when he lives his life according to that wisdom.
Knowledge which benefits is only wisdom. And knowledge by itself is not hikmah/wisdom.
The ancient definition of Hikmah in arabic was; You learn something beneficial, and act upon it. The same way - you learn that touching fire is hot, and then you don't touch it. That is hikmah/wisdom. It is not wisdom if you know it is hot, but you still touch it and get burnt anyway.
.... And he teaches the people. Allah gave him wisdom and he uses wisdom to teach to people. He shares wisdom, making them love implementation of it.
Two types of Jealousy:
1 - We Muslims compete with each other for small and useless things. Masaajids are sueing each other in courts within the USA for power and competing between each other. All because of jealousy, and ego problems - when this is the main intent of this surah - to protect against jealousy, and to originally humble yourself and fight your ego.
2 - Jealousy from those who Disbelieve:
We are still better than any other way of life. Plenty of People of other ways of life are jealous of us.
There are many from the people of the book who want you to return to disbelief after your belief -(quran.)
They want you to disbelieve, they don't want you to have Islam. hasadan min 'indi anfusihim (because they have jealousy within themselves) min ajli hasadin - because of a jealousy rooted deep inside of them. min ba'di ma tabayanna lahum ul haq - after what was conveyed to them of the truth.
They saw people who did change - who had become better. They however did not change with this good. So out of jealousy - they want the good doers to become evil too as disbelievers - so they can be equals in evil and disbelief.
This is a really evil form of jealousy and envy. There will be an entity there that will want this.
So what should be our response to this? Take Allah's advice;
wa'du ma ani'tum - Animosity has come out of their mouths and what they conceal in their hearts is worse. (quran - surah aal Imraan)
But what should our response be?
fa'fu (pardon them) wasfahu (turn the page / pretend it didn't happen) hat-taa ta'tiyAllahu bi 'amrih (until Allah comes with His decision). inAllaha 'ala kuli shay'in qadeer - (surely Allah is over everything, powerful.) - quran.
You do not get insulted when a dog barks at you. That's his job.
wa lillahi al 'izzatu wa lir-Rasoolihee wa lil mu'mineen (and to Allah belong honor, and to His Messenger and to the believers) - surah munafiqoon.
Why do you have to worry of the enviers and those who do evil? Allah has told us to recite this surah which is a Du'a (invocation) against all evils. If we have a strong connection with the Book of Allah, no matter how powerful the enemies of this Book may have, Allah is the powerful One over everything, and He will respond to us with Divine Help, if we humbly and sincerely ask Him.
