“…mankind.’ These are all Names and Attributes of Allah, and within them lie the three categories of tawḥīd (monotheism): tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah (affirming His Lordship), tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah (devoting all worship to Him alone), and tawḥīd al-asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt (affirming His Names and Attributes).

By invoking Allah through these very Names and Attributes you seek protection from the evil of al-waswās—that is, Satan. Al-wiswās, with a kasrah on the wāw, is the verbal noun of waswasa – yuwaswisu (“to whisper”); whereas al-waswās, with a fatḥah, is one of Satan’s names because he whispers to a person, casts illusions before him, and preoccupies him so as to sow fear, hesitation, and bewilderment—especially in acts of worship. Satan whispers during prayer until he confounds one’s ṣalāh or other devotions: a person may leave the prayer thinking it has been invalidated, or finish it only to imagine he lacked wudūʾ, or suppose he did not stand where he should, or did not perform some pillar. He becomes trapped in obsessive misgivings and finds no tranquility in his worship.

Allah—glorified and exalted—has provided the remedy for this peril: that we seek refuge in Him from the evil of this whisperer.

Al-khannās is the one who withdraws and retreats. He whispers when you are heedless of Allah’s remembrance, and he slinks away—delays and falls back—when you remember Allah. He is a whisperer in moments of heedlessness and a retreating fugitive at the remembrance of Allah.