1 Say: I take refuge in the Lord
of the day break,
Falaqa means "to split, tear asunder, dispel the
shadows of the night."
A'udhu means "I take refuge." We take refuge
from our ignorance, from the darkness of our nafs, and from our doubts. We
take refuge from our uncertainties and insecurities in the Lord, the
Sustainer, Who continues to sustain knowledge, certainty, light, and
illumination. We seek refuge in the One Who brings forth the dawn after the
darkness of night.
2 From the evil of what He has
created,
Here we are appealing to Allah, ar-Rahim (the Most
Merciful), because we must make a subjective judgment. We accept that in this
realm of duality there are aspects which please and comfort us, and other
aspects which displease us and bring about suffering. There are aspects which
we consider conducive to our well-being and aspects which we consider
detrimental to us and thus we take refuge in the Lord of all creation from
that part of His creation which we consider to be harmful.
3 And from the evil of
intense darkness when it comes,
We take refuge from the night, from gloom and darkness,
from that which we do not know. We also take refuge from self-doubt. The
reference here is to what is both familiar and unknown, to that with which we
have a connection and with which we do not.
4 And from the evil of those who
blow on knots,
We take refuge from powers whose functioning we do not
comprehend. We take refuge from the magicians, from the women who blow on
knots to bring about magical events, and who call upon forces in this
existence which we do not fully comprehend and which are invisible to us, such
as the jinn.
We take refuge in Allah, the One Who opens to us the dawn
of relief and knowledge, from these entities that can afflict us in this life.
We know that invisible forces do exist and that black magic and other forms of
magic are practiced in many places. There are many forces that can be called
upon and brought into play, but those of us who want to go to the Source of
all powers, take refuge in the Lord of the dawn.
The two surahs, Ikhlas and Falaq, were often
recited by our Imams. According to our traditions, Surat al-Ikhlas was often
recited by the blessed Prophet, salla-llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, for
the Imams Hasan and Husayn. These surahs remind us to strive for an inner
state of I 'man, to walk straight ahead toward our objective, to the wahad al-ahad,
the Single and Unique One, to sing nothing but the song of the One.
If we do this, we will have no interest in dabbling
in these other phenomena, because the gross phenomena will not be viewed by us
as having any intrinsic reality. It must be remembered that however powerful a
magician may be, there will always be another magician who will overcome him.
In the case of Sayyidna Musa, `alayhi-s-salam, it is well
known that the muwahhid (the man of unity), overcame all the Pharaoh's
magicians by another power which had nothing to do with the play of magic.
5 And from the evil of the envier
when he envies.
Hasad means "envy," which is considered to be
one of the worst afflictions of the nafs and one of the worst self-inflicted
troubles for man, because it can grow rampant. The
fire of envy will fuel itself constantly and can never be
put out, because there will always be someone else who will have something
that we cannot have.
Amir al-Mu'minin 'Ali, `alayhi-s-salam, was asked
about Hasud, a man whose envy was
causing havoc among the people. "What can we do with him?" they
asked, "He should be
punished!" Amir 'Ali answered, `Ma fihi yakfihi,"
"What is in him is enough of a punishment for him."
The hasid (envier) will never win nor will he ever
profit. Keep us safe, O Lord, from the evil of this attitude which has its
seed in every heart! If it were not in our hearts
right now, we would be unable to understand it.
We all have felt a spark of it in our life, but if we are
fortunate, it remains a spark which can be smothered and covered over with
generosity and other positive attributes. If we do not fight against envy at
all times, it will constantly be inflamed and will take us over completely.
