There remains a kind of evil peculiar to the devils among the jinn: whispering into the heart. Allah mentions this in the other surah, which we shall discuss, Allah willing. The envier and the sorcerer harm their victims without any action on the victims’ part. Rather, this harm comes from a source apart from them. Thus, He mentions the two separately in Sūrat al-Falaq.

The whisperer, however, harms a person from within, through that person’s harbouring him and accepting his suggestions. This is why a person is punished for the evil through which Satan harms him: whispered suggestions accompanied by actions and firm resolve. These involve his own effort and will. By contrast, he is not punished for the harm inflicted by an envier or sorcerer, since it cannot be attributed to his own deeds or will. Thus, Allah devotes one surah to Satan’s evil and brings together the evil of the sorcerer and the envier in another.

Envy and sorcery are frequently mentioned together in the Quran because of their affinity. This is why the Jews were the most practised in sorcery and the most envious of people. Because of their extreme wickedness, sorcery and envy are found among them to an extent unmatched among others. Allah describes them in His Book as possessing both. He says:

2:102 “They followed what the devils recited during the reign of Solomon. Solomon did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and what was sent down to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. Yet the two would not teach anyone without first saying, ‘We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve.’ They learned from them that by which they could separate a man from his wife. Yet they could not harm anyone through it except by Allah’s permission. They learned what harmed them and did not benefit them. They certainly knew that whoever purchased it would have no share in the Hereafter. Wretched indeed was that for which they sold themselves, if only they knew.”

The deeper meanings and rulings of this verse, the principles it contains, its refutation of those who deny sorcery, and the distinction it draws between sorcery and miracles—which those who deny sorcery reject for fear of confusion—are matters for discussion elsewhere. Indeed, the verse contains the clearest distinction between the two.

For our purpose here is to discuss the deeper meanings of these two surahs, how desperately creation needs them, and how nothing else can take their place.