Prayer to protect from evil
The 113:001 starts with God’s names and urges man to seek His protection from evil of all kinds. He made everything and can unmake it. He tears apart things when He wills. He can protect from all evil in His creation — in the dark, in the planners and plotters, in the works of jealousy.
113:002 directs to pray by saying قُلۡ (‘You say …’) that carries numerous connotations such as the following.
1. It commands a reader to deliver the message to all other persons in the whole wide world.
2. It orders him to tell himself too so that his telling only others is not an act of hypocrisy.
3. It directs the reader to acknowledge that he has received the message he gives others.
4. It mandates him to express his state of mind with the resolves like “I will do that.”
113:002 further exhorts to seek the protection of God of Cleaving (ٱلۡفَلَقِ, faluque) that among other things means as follows.
1. To cause something to burst open like the dawn or daybreak tears apart a night.
2. To cause the appearance, emergence and prevailing of the truth.
3. To split especially along a plane of natural weakness.
4. To broaden the depth of the request by seeking ‘protection from all evil ‘out there’ by ‘tearing it apart’ and ‘cleaving’ it.
113:003 elaborates the sphere of Evil. Man knows certain evils such as ‘mischief, bad things created as a test, set back, speed bump or stumbling block albeit temporary.’ But he can’t know ‘all that (مَا , maa) whatever, whenever and wherever’ that lies in all that He has created (خَلَقَ, kha-la-qua), brought into being, designed, fashioned or structured. Narrow meanings are conveyed by translating the prayer to ‘Seek protection from the evil He created.’ But very broad meanings appear in translations to “Seek protection from the evil of whatever He created.’ The broader meanings are obviously justified by the fact that God Almighty created everything and nothing really is inherently evil but its misuse or abuse by man is that makes it bad. Just as the Almighty’s blessings, forgiveness, grace, kindness and mercy have no bounds, man’s prayer like all prayers should be as broad as possible.
113:004 quotes one environment that breeds all kinds of evil for Man regardless of his color, creed or culture. Evil thrives in darkness, particularly when it has (وَقَبَ, wa-qub) become thick and is intensified into pitch dark, overspread with the thickness similar to what appears when the full moon has entered a total eclipse.
113:005 enumerates the evil of the blowers (ٱلنَّفَّـٰثَـٰتِ, nuf-fus-saa-tay) in the knots. Their kinds can be the breathers, the conjurers and evil whisperers who try to deter or obstruct good pursuits, the practitioners of secret arts and malignant methods, the promoters who join hands in witchcraft or the witches who cast evil suggestions. Their overt acts can be entering (لۡعُقَدِ, oqud) accords, agreements, compacts, pacts, pledges, resolutions, solutions and settlements which are agreed upon and firmed up between parties like in one or all of the following scenarios.
1. The age-old custom of concluding a solemn affirmation by blowing into hands.
2. The final step in the process of firming up an agreement, compact or mutual relationship.
3. The removal of complications which may have hitherto hindered finalizing a settlement.
4. The opening the knots that were tied up earlier.
113:006 specifies the evil of a jealous person when he perpetrates jealousy (حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ ). It is a fact of life we all experience, all the time, in all places. There have been in the past and there will always be in the future innumerable types of prejudices. Burning alive on the flaming fire for flouting established religion (085:005) may be just in the past. Protection from the evils of all kinds of biases and jealousy is as important today as in days gone by. Examples of this harsh reality abound all political, fiscal, social, professional or clerical arenas. In the world of today 2015 AD the most prominent may be have’s, have-nots and color-prejudices. Not at all is uncommon phenomenon to see the real impact of the evils of jealousy, grudge and biases. Ask the victim when an act of jealousy inflicted on him a harm or committed a crime against him.
Ask a religious minority member in Pakistan or ISIS-controlled Iraq.
Ask a ghetto resident who can’t improve his housing in many rich countries.
Ask a black unemployable person in several places because he never got training.
Ask a convict who lived a dozen years on death-row until DNA proved his innocence.
Ask a poor who must feed his family in less than his rich neighbor spends in his dinner.
Ask a child who attends integrated school hungry as his rich seatmate eats lavish lunch.
Ask hundreds of first-responders battling cancer as Congress won’t fund insurance.
Ask thousands of dependents of the innocent killed in World Trade Center on 9/11.
Ask hundreds of thousands of dependents of Iraqis killed by oil-hungry foreigners.
Ask millions of victims of religious and ethnic prejudices everywhere in the world.
The reasons go on and on why God taught to seek protection against the perpetrators of jealousy.
Prayers to protect from evil
Prayer to protect from evil
The 113:001 starts with God’s names and urges man to seek His protection from evil of all kinds. He made everything and can unmake it. He tears apart things when He wills. He can protect from all evil in His creation — in the dark, in the planners and plotters, in the works of jealousy.
113:002 directs to pray by saying قُلۡ (‘You say …’) that carries numerous connotations such as the following.
1. It commands a reader to deliver the message to all other persons in the whole wide world.
2. It orders him to tell himself too so that his telling only others is not an act of hypocrisy.
3. It directs the reader to acknowledge that he has received the message he gives others.
4. It mandates him to express his state of mind with the resolves like “I will do that.”
113:002 further exhorts to seek the protection of God of Cleaving (ٱلۡفَلَقِ, faluque) that among other things means as follows.
1. To cause something to burst open like the dawn or daybreak tears apart a night.
2. To cause the appearance, emergence and prevailing of the truth.
3. To split especially along a plane of natural weakness.
4. To broaden the depth of the request by seeking ‘protection from all evil ‘out there’ by ‘tearing it apart’ and ‘cleaving’ it.
113:003 elaborates the sphere of Evil. Man knows certain evils such as ‘mischief, bad things created as a test, set back, speed bump or stumbling block albeit temporary.’ But he can’t know ‘all that (مَا , maa) whatever, whenever and wherever’ that lies in all that He has created (خَلَقَ, kha-la-qua), brought into being, designed, fashioned or structured. Narrow meanings are conveyed by translating the prayer to ‘Seek protection from the evil He created.’ But very broad meanings appear in translations to “Seek protection from the evil of whatever He created.’ The broader meanings are obviously justified by the fact that God Almighty created everything and nothing really is inherently evil but its misuse or abuse by man is that makes it bad. Just as the Almighty’s blessings, forgiveness, grace, kindness and mercy have no bounds, man’s prayer like all prayers should be as broad as possible.
113:004 quotes one environment that breeds all kinds of evil for Man regardless of his color, creed or culture. Evil thrives in darkness, particularly when it has (وَقَبَ, wa-qub) become thick and is intensified into pitch dark, overspread with the thickness similar to what appears when the full moon has entered a total eclipse.
113:005 enumerates the evil of the blowers (ٱلنَّفَّـٰثَـٰتِ, nuf-fus-saa-tay) in the knots. Their kinds can be the breathers, the conjurers and evil whisperers who try to deter or obstruct good pursuits, the practitioners of secret arts and malignant methods, the promoters who join hands in witchcraft or the witches who cast evil suggestions. Their overt acts can be entering (لۡعُقَدِ, oqud) accords, agreements, compacts, pacts, pledges, resolutions, solutions and settlements which are agreed upon and firmed up between parties like in one or all of the following scenarios.
1. The age-old custom of concluding a solemn affirmation by blowing into hands.
2. The final step in the process of firming up an agreement, compact or mutual relationship.
3. The removal of complications which may have hitherto hindered finalizing a settlement.
4. The opening the knots that were tied up earlier.
113:006 specifies the evil of a jealous person when he perpetrates jealousy (حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ ). It is a fact of life we all experience, all the time, in all places. There have been in the past and there will always be in the future innumerable types of prejudices. Burning alive on the flaming fire for flouting established religion (085:005) may be just in the past. Protection from the evils of all kinds of biases and jealousy is as important today as in days gone by. Examples of this harsh reality abound all political, fiscal, social, professional or clerical arenas. In the world of today 2015 AD the most prominent may be have’s, have-nots and color-prejudices. Not at all is uncommon phenomenon to see the real impact of the evils of jealousy, grudge and biases. Ask the victim when an act of jealousy inflicted on him a harm or committed a crime against him.
Ask a religious minority member in Pakistan or ISIS-controlled Iraq.
Ask a ghetto resident who can’t improve his housing in many rich countries.
Ask a black unemployable person in several places because he never got training.
Ask a convict who lived a dozen years on death-row until DNA proved his innocence.
Ask a poor who must feed his family in less than his rich neighbor spends in his dinner.
Ask a child who attends integrated school hungry as his rich seatmate eats lavish lunch.
Ask hundreds of first-responders battling cancer as Congress won’t fund insurance.
Ask thousands of dependents of the innocent killed in World Trade Center on 9/11.
Ask hundreds of thousands of dependents of Iraqis killed by oil-hungry foreigners.
Ask millions of victims of religious and ethnic prejudices everywhere in the world.
The reasons go on and on why God taught to seek protection against the perpetrators of jealousy.
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