Consider, then, which interpretation is more fitting for the hadith and more appropriate to it. Each has something in its favour. The first is supported by the fact that evil deeds originate in the evil within the soul. The soul’s evil gives rise to evil deeds, so he sought refuge from this quality of the soul and from the deeds arising from it. These two encompass all evil and are the causes of every suffering. Whoever is spared them is spared evil altogether.

The second is supported by understanding “the evils of deeds” as the punishments that distress the doer, whose causes lie in the soul’s evil. Thus, he sought refuge from punishments and suffering, and from their causes.

In reality, the two interpretations necessarily entail one another: seeking refuge from either entails seeking refuge from the other.

Section

Evil has a cause from which it originates, and a recipient upon whom it ultimately falls. Its cause lies either within the servant himself or outside him, while its recipient is either himself or someone else. There are therefore four possibilities: evil originating within himself and falling either upon himself or upon another; and evil originating in someone else, who causes it, and falling either upon himself or upon another.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, encompassed these four possibilities in the supplication he taught al-Siddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, to recite in the morning, in the evening, and upon going to bed:

“O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, Lord and Sovereign of all things! I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but You. I seek refuge in You from the evil within myself, from Satan’s evil and the association of partners with You to which he calls, and from committing evil against myself or bringing it upon a Muslim.”

He thus mentioned the two sources of evil—the soul and Satan—and the two recipients upon whom it ultimately falls: oneself or one’s fellow Muslim. The hadith therefore encompasses the sources and recipients of evil in the most concise, readily grasped, comprehensive, and lucid wording.