For this reason, seeking refuge before recitation has been prescribed, both within the prayer and outside it.

Some scholars (1) even held that seeking refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed, is obligatory when reciting the Quran, based on the saying of Allah, exalted is He:

“So when you recite the Quran, seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed.” [al-Nahl]

The meaning of “I seek refuge with Allah” is: I turn to Him for protection and hold fast to Him, for He, exalted is He, is both the haven to which one turns and the refuge one seeks. What, then, is the difference between a haven and a refuge?

The scholars said: the difference is that one seeks a haven in pursuit of good, whereas one seeks refuge in flight from evil. As evidence, they cited the poet’s words:

O You in whom I seek haven for all that I hope for,
and in whom I seek refuge from all that I fear.

No people can mend a bone that You have broken,
nor can they rebreak a bone that You have mended.

The meaning of “from Satan, the accursed” is as follows: Satan is a generic name that includes the first Satan, who was commanded to prostrate to Adam but did not do so, as well as his offspring. It is derived from shaṭana (“to be far removed”), because of his remoteness from Allah’s mercy; for Allah cursed him—that is, expelled and removed him from His mercy. Or it is derived from shāṭa (“to become angry”), because his nature is recklessness, anger, and haste. Thus, he did not accept Allah’s command, exalted is He, to prostrate to Adam; rather, he immediately rejected it, denied that he should prostrate to him, and said:

“Should I prostrate to one You created from clay?” [al-Isra: 61]

The first meaning is closer, which is why the word is fully declinable: its final n is part of the root.

As for “the accursed,” it may bear both an active and a passive sense: one who pelts and one who is pelted, because