Surah An Nas ayat 4 Tafsir Quran 114:4

﴿مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ﴾
[ الناس: 4]

114:4 From the evil of the retreating whisperer -

from the evil of the slinking whisperer Satan — he is referred to by the name of the action waswasa on account of his repeated engaging in it — who slinks away and recoils from the heart whenever God is mentioned

Counter to the evil generated by the sneak whisperer and by his confederates, and by those with characteristics befitting Al-Shaytan (Satan) separately or combined

Which was revealed in Makkah بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. These are three attributes from the attributes of the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic.
They are lordship, sovereignty and divinity.
Thus, He is the Lord of everything, the King of everything and the God of everything.
All things are created by Him, owned by Him, and subservient to Him.
Therefore, He commands whoever is seeking protection to seek refuge with the One Who has these attributes from the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.
This ( the whisperer ) is the devil that is assigned to man.
For verily, there is not any of the Children of Adam except that he has a companion that beautifies wicked deeds for him.
This devil will go to any lengths to confuse and confound him.
The only person who is safe is He Whom Allah protects. It is confirmed in the Sahih that he ( the Prophet ) said,
«مَا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا قَدْ وُكِّلَ بِهِ قَرِينُهُ»
( There is not a single one of you except that his companion (a devil ) has been assigned to him.) They ( the Companions ) said, "What about you, O Messenger of Allah" He replied,
«نَعَمْ، إِلَّا أَنَّ اللهَ أَعَانَنِي عَلَيْهِ فَأَسْلَمَ، فَلَا يَأْمُرُنِي إِلَّا بِخَيْرٍ»
( Yes.
However, Allah has helped me against him and he has accepted Islam.
Thus, he only commands me to do good. ) It is also confirmed in the Two Sahihs from Anas, who reported the story of Safiyyah when she came to visit the Prophet while he was performing I`tikaf, that he went out with her during the night to walk her back to her house.
So, two men from the Ansar met him ( on the way ).
When they saw the Prophet , they began walking swiftly.
So, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
«عَلَى رِسْلِكُمَا، إِنَّهَا صَفِيَّةُ بِنْتُ حُيَيَ»
( Slow down! This is Safiyyah bint Huyay! ) They said, "Glory be to Allah, O Messenger of Allah!" He said,
«إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَجْرِي مِنِ ابْنِ آدَمَ مَجْرَى الدَّم، وَإِنِّي خَشِيتُ أَنْ يَقْذِفَ فِي قُلُوبِكُمَا شَيْئًا، أَوْ قَالَ: شَرًّا»
( Verily, Shaytan runs in the Son of Adam like the running of the blood.
And verily, I feared that he might cast something into your hearts -- or he said -- evil. ) Sa`id bin Jubayr reported that Ibn `Abbas said concerning Allah's statement, الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ ( The whisperer (Al-Waswas ) who withdraws.) "The devil who is squatting ( perched ) upon the heart of the Son of Adam.
So when he becomes absentminded and heedless he whispers.
Then, when he remembers Allah he withdraws." Mujahid and Qatadah also said this. Al-Mu`tamir bin Sulayman reported that his father said, "It has been mentioned to me that Shaytan is Al-Waswas.
He blows into the heart of the Son of Adam when he is sad and when he is happy.
But when he ( man ) remembers Allah, Shaytan withdraws." Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas; الْوَسْوَاسِ ( The whisperer. ) "He is Shaytan.
He whispers and then when he is obeyed, he withdraws." As for Allah's saying; الَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ( Who whispers in the breasts of An-Nas. ) Is this specific for the Children of Adam as is apparent, or is it general, including both mankind and Jinns There are two views concerning this.
This is because they ( the Jinns ) are also included in the usage of the word An-Nas ( the people ) in most cases. Ibn Jarir said, "The phrase Rijalun min Al-Jinn ( Men from the Jinns ) has been used in reference to them, so it is not strange for the word An-Nas to be applied to them also." Then Allah says, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas. ) Is this explanatory of Allah's statement, الَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ( Who whispers in the breasts of An-Nas. ) Then, Allah explains this by saying, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas. ) This is supportive of the second view.
It has also been said that Allah's saying, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas ) is an explanation of who is it that whispers into the breasts of mankind from the devils of mankind and Jinns.
This is similar to Allah's saying, وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نِبِىٍّ عَدُوّاً شَيَـطِينَ الإِنْسِ وَالْجِنِّ يُوحِى بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً o( And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies -- Shayatin among mankind and Jinn, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion. ) ( 6:112 ) Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "A man came to the Prophet and said, `O Messenger of Allah! Sometimes I say things to myself that I would rather fall from the sky than say ( aloud openly ).
' The Prophet said,
«اللهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللهُ أَكْبَرٌ الْحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي رَدَّ كَيْدَهُ إِلَى الْوَسْوَسَةِ»
( Allah is Most Great! Allah is Most Great! All praise is due to Allah Who sent his (Shaytan's ) plot back as only a whisper.)" Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i also recorded this Hadith.

(114:4) from the mischief of the whispering, elusive prompter who returns again and again, *2

From the evil of the retreating whisperer meaning

*2) The word waswas in waswas-il-khannas means the one who whispers over and over again, and waswasa means to whisper into someone's heart an evil suggestion over and over again in such a way or ways that the one who is being inspired may not feel that the whisperer is whispering an evil suggestion into his heart.
Waswasah by itself suggests repetition just as zalzalah contains the meaning of repetitive movement.
Since man is not tempted by just one attempt but effort has to be made over and over again to seduce and tempt him, such aII attempt is called waswasah and the tempter waswas.
As for the word khannas, it is derived from khunus, which means to hide after appearing and to retreat after coming into view.
Since khannas is the intensive form, it would imply the one who behaves thus very frequently.
Now, obviously the whisperer has to approach man for whispering again and again, and besides, when he is also described as khannas, the combination of the two words by 'itself gives the meaning that after whispering once he retreats and then again returns over and over again to repeat the act of whispering.
In other words, when once he fails in his attempt to whisper evil, he withdraws, then he again returns to make the second and the third and the next attempt over and over again.

After understanding the meaning of waswas-il-khannas, let us consider what is meant by seeking refuge from its evil.
Its one meaning is that the seeker after refuge himself seeks God's refuge from its evil, i.e.
from the evil lest it should whisper some evil suggestion into his own heart.
The second meaning is that the caller to Truth seeks God's refuge from the evil of the one who whispers evil suggestions into the hearts of the people against himself.
It is not in his own power to approach aII the people in whose hearts evil suggestions are being whispered against himself individually and remove the misunderstandings of every person.
It is also not right and proper for him that he should give up his mission of inviting others to AIlah and should devote aII his tune and energy to removing the misunderstanding created by the whisperer and to answering their accusations.
It is also below his dignity that he should stoop to the level of his opponents.
Therefore, Allah has instructed the caller to Truth to seek only His refuge from the evil of the wicked people, and then to attend single-mindedly to his work of invitation and mission.
For it is not for him to deal with them but for Allah, who is Sustainer of men, King of,men, God of men.

Here, one should also understand that an evil suggestion is the starting , point of evil act.
When it affects a careless or heedless person, it creates in him a desire for evil.
Then, further whisperings change the evil desire into an evil intention and evil purpose.
When the evil suggestion grows in intensity, the intention becomes a resolution, which then culminates in the evil act.
Therefore, the meaning of seeking God's refuge from the evil of the whisperer is that Allah should nip the evil in the bud.

If seen from another aspect, the order of the evil of the whisperers seems to be this: first.
they incite one to open unbelief, polytheism, or rebellion against AIIah and His Messenger, and enmity of the righteous ( godly ) people.
If they fail in this and a person dces enter Allah's religion, they misguide him to some innovation.
If they fail in this too, they tempt him to sin.
If they do not succeed even in this, they inspire the tnan with the suggestion that there is no haran in indulging in minor sins, so that if he starts committing these freely, he is over burdened with sin.
If one escapes from this too, in the last resort they try that one should keep the true religion confined to oneself, and should do nothing to make it prevail, but if a person defeats all these plans, the whole party of the devils froth among men and jinn makes a common front against him incites and stirs up the people and makes them shower him with invective and accusation and slander, and defames him as widely as it can.
Then, Satan comes to the believer and excites hisn to anger, saying: " It is cowardly of you to have borne aII this insult: arise and clash with your opponents. " This is the last and final device with Satan by which he tries to thwart the struggle of the caller to Truth and entangle him in difficulties and obstructions.
If he succeeds in escaping from this too, Satan becomes powerless before him.
About this same thing it has been said in the Qur'an: " If Satan ever excites you to anger, seek refuge with Allah. " ( Al-A`raf: 200, Ha Mim As-Sajdah: 36 ); " Say: Lord, I seek refuge with You from the promptings of satans. " ( Al-Mu'minun: 97 ); " The fact is that if ever an evil suggestion from Satan so much as touches those, who are God-fearing people, they immediately get alerted and clearly see the right course they should adopt. " ( AI-A`raf: 201 ).
And on this very basis about the people who escape from this last attack of Satan Allah says: " None can attain to this rank except those who are men of great good fortune. " ( Ha Mim As-Sajdah: 35 ).

In this connection, another thing also should be kept in mind, and it is this: EviL suggestion is not whispered into the heart of man only from outside by the satans from among men and jinn, but also by the self of man from within.
His own wrong theories misguide his intellect, his own unlawful motives and desires lead his power of discrimination, will and power of judgement astray, and it is not only the satans from outside but within tnan his satan of the self also beguiles him.
This same thing has been expressed in the Qur'an, thus: " and We know the evil suggestions arising from his self. " ( Qaf : 16 ).
On this very basis, the Holy Prophet ( upon whom be peace ) in his well-known Sermon said: " We seek Allah's refuge from the evils of our self. "
 

Which was revealed in Makkah بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. These are three attributes from the attributes of the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic.
They are lordship, sovereignty and divinity.
Thus, He is the Lord of everything, the King of everything and the God of everything.
All things are created by Him, owned by Him, and subservient to Him.
Therefore, He commands whoever is seeking protection to seek refuge with the One Who has these attributes from the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.
This ( the whisperer ) is the devil that is assigned to man.
For verily, there is not any of the Children of Adam except that he has a companion that beautifies wicked deeds for him.
This devil will go to any lengths to confuse and confound him.
The only person who is safe is He Whom Allah protects. It is confirmed in the Sahih that he ( the Prophet ) said, «مَا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا قَدْ وُكِّلَ بِهِ قَرِينُهُ» ( There is not a single one of you except that his companion (a devil ) has been assigned to him.) They ( the Companions ) said, "What about you, O Messenger of Allah" He replied, «نَعَمْ، إِلَّا أَنَّ اللهَ أَعَانَنِي عَلَيْهِ فَأَسْلَمَ، فَلَا يَأْمُرُنِي إِلَّا بِخَيْرٍ» ( Yes.
However, Allah has helped me against him and he has accepted Islam.
Thus, he only commands me to do good. ) It is also confirmed in the Two Sahihs from Anas, who reported the story of Safiyyah when she came to visit the Prophet while he was performing I`tikaf, that he went out with her during the night to walk her back to her house.
So, two men from the Ansar met him ( on the way ).
When they saw the Prophet , they began walking swiftly.
So, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, «عَلَى رِسْلِكُمَا، إِنَّهَا صَفِيَّةُ بِنْتُ حُيَيَ» ( Slow down! This is Safiyyah bint Huyay! ) They said, "Glory be to Allah, O Messenger of Allah!" He said, «إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَجْرِي مِنِ ابْنِ آدَمَ مَجْرَى الدَّم، وَإِنِّي خَشِيتُ أَنْ يَقْذِفَ فِي قُلُوبِكُمَا شَيْئًا، أَوْ قَالَ: شَرًّا» ( Verily, Shaytan runs in the Son of Adam like the running of the blood.
And verily, I feared that he might cast something into your hearts -- or he said -- evil. ) Sa`id bin Jubayr reported that Ibn `Abbas said concerning Allah's statement, الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ ( The whisperer (Al-Waswas ) who withdraws.) "The devil who is squatting ( perched ) upon the heart of the Son of Adam.
So when he becomes absentminded and heedless he whispers.
Then, when he remembers Allah he withdraws." Mujahid and Qatadah also said this. Al-Mu`tamir bin Sulayman reported that his father said, "It has been mentioned to me that Shaytan is Al-Waswas.
He blows into the heart of the Son of Adam when he is sad and when he is happy.
But when he ( man ) remembers Allah, Shaytan withdraws." Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas; الْوَسْوَاسِ ( The whisperer. ) "He is Shaytan.
He whispers and then when he is obeyed, he withdraws." As for Allah's saying; الَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ( Who whispers in the breasts of An-Nas. ) Is this specific for the Children of Adam as is apparent, or is it general, including both mankind and Jinns There are two views concerning this.
This is because they ( the Jinns ) are also included in the usage of the word An-Nas ( the people ) in most cases. Ibn Jarir said, "The phrase Rijalun min Al-Jinn ( Men from the Jinns ) has been used in reference to them, so it is not strange for the word An-Nas to be applied to them also." Then Allah says, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas. ) Is this explanatory of Allah's statement, الَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ( Who whispers in the breasts of An-Nas. ) Then, Allah explains this by saying, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas. ) This is supportive of the second view.
It has also been said that Allah's saying, مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ( Of Jinn and An-Nas ) is an explanation of who is it that whispers into the breasts of mankind from the devils of mankind and Jinns.
This is similar to Allah's saying, وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نِبِىٍّ عَدُوّاً شَيَـطِينَ الإِنْسِ وَالْجِنِّ يُوحِى بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً o( And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies -- Shayatin among mankind and Jinn, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion. ) ( 6:112 ) Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "A man came to the Prophet and said, `O Messenger of Allah! Sometimes I say things to myself that I would rather fall from the sky than say ( aloud openly ).
' The Prophet said, «اللهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللهُ أَكْبَرٌ الْحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي رَدَّ كَيْدَهُ إِلَى الْوَسْوَسَةِ» ( Allah is Most Great! Allah is Most Great! All praise is due to Allah Who sent his (Shaytan's ) plot back as only a whisper.)" Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i also recorded this Hadith.

( From the evil of the sneaking whisperer ) i.e. Satan who runs away and hides himself whenever Allah is mentioned,

"From the evil of the whisperer (devil who whispers evil in the hearts of men) who withdraws (from his whispering in one's heart after one remembers Allah),

Page 604 English transliteration