then the more fitting sense is that nafth refers to sorcery, for the verse reads: “and from the evil of the naffathat (the blowers in knots)” (Q 113:4); whereas hamz denotes whisperings, as in: “Say: My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the hamazat of the shayatins” (Q 23:97), meaning their furtive promptings—Satan spurs people toward sin just as a rider goads an animal with a spur. End of the quotation from al-Mirqat. I add: this explanation is not part of the hadith’s actual wording but a gloss supplied by some transmitters, as stated earlier. A parallel wording, however, does occur in another Prophetic report: Ahmad records in the Musnad (6/156), through the chain of Ikrima b. ‘Ammar – Yahya b. Abi Kathir – Abu Salama b. ‘Abd al-Rahman, that “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose for the night prayer he would say: ‘O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the accursed shaytan— from his hamz, his nafth, and his nafkh.’ He also used to say: ‘Seek refuge in Allah from the accursed shaytan— from his hamz, his nafkh, and his nafth.’ They asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, what are his hamz, nafkh, and nafth?’ He replied, ‘His hamz is this death-like seizure that strikes the Children of Adam; his nafkh is arrogance; and his nafth is poetry.’ ” All the narrators in the chain are trustworthy and are found in the Sahih collections, yet the isnad is mursal. This narration answers those modern critics who denied the existence of a Prophetic attribution for the above explanation. On its face it also indicates that seeking refuge is obligatory before reciting in the prayer, a point supported by the general divine command, “When you recite the Qur’an, seek refuge in Allah” (Q 16:98). Ibn Hazm adopts this ruling in al-Muhalla (3/247). Al-Nawawi (3/326) says: