those from whose evil refuge is sought. Abū al-Faraj mentioned both explanations, but neither has a sound basis, for the whispering of the jinn is greater, yet He did not mention them. Rather, He mentioned humankind because they are the ones seeking refuge. They seek refuge in their Lord, who protects them; in their Sovereign, who commands and forbids them; and in their God, whom they worship, from the evil of the one who stands between them and worshipping Him. They also seek refuge from the evil of the whispering that arises in human souls, whether from humans or jinn, for it is the root of the evil that proceeds from them and the evil that befalls them.

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This clarifies some aspects of this prayer for refuge and the one preceding it. As the hadiths from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, state, those seeking refuge have never sought it with anything like these two. Whispering is the root of all disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience, and thus the root of all evil. Whenever a person is protected from its evil, he is protected from the punishment of Hell, the punishment of the grave, the trials of life and death, and the trial of the false messiah, the Dajjāl. All these come about through whispering. He is also protected from Allah’s punishment in this world and the Hereafter, for he is punished only for sins, whose origin lies in whispering.

Furthermore, if the verse also encompasses the whispering of others, so that His words,

“From the evil of the whisperer,”

constitute seeking refuge from the whispering that assails him and that which assails people because of him, then he is protected from their wrongdoing. And if