Thus, whispering is the origin of every evil. If they have sought refuge in their Lord, Sovereign, and God from its evil, this includes the whispering of both jinn and humans. Any other evil they suffer at human hands befalls them only because of their sins: it is recompense for their deeds, like the harm inflicted by jinn through means other than whispering, or the punishments sent down from heaven. Here, they have not sought refuge from the evil of created beings without qualification, as they have in Surah al-Falaq, but from evil whose origin lies within their own souls.

Even if mentioning “the Lord of humankind,” “the Sovereign of humankind,” and “the God of humankind” means that they seek refuge in Him so that He may protect them and protect others from them—and this is the broader of the two meanings—that is achieved by His protecting them from the evil of the whisperer who whispers in people’s breasts. For it is he who whispers to them to wrong one another, lead one another astray, and assist one another in sin and transgression.

No evil, then, befalls one human at the hands of another except that it originates with the retreating whisperer. By contrast, when the harm people inflict on one another arises not from whispering but from the revelation with which Allah sent His angels, it is just—as in carrying out the prescribed punishments, fighting the disbelievers, and exacting retribution from wrongdoers. These actions involve harm and pain for human wrongdoers, but they proceed from Allah’s revelation, not from whispering. They are a blessing from Allah for His servants, even for the person punished. For if he is punished, that punishment is an expiation for him if he is a believer; otherwise, it lessens his punishment in the Hereafter compared with the punishment of someone who was not punished in this world.