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Learn › Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī The Source Commentary › Lesson 114

Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī The Source Commentary · Juzʾ Tabārak and Juzʾ ʿAmma Surahs 67–114
Lesson 114

Sūrah An-Nās The People

سورة الناس

Al-Ṭabarī concludes his Tafsīr with An-Nās, examining the triple divine invocation (Lord of people, King of people, God of people) as three distinct modes of divine authority, and investigating the identity of "al-waswās al-khannās" the whispering retreater determining via 114:6 that it encompasses both jinn and human whisperers.

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance
SurahالناسMakkī 6 versesSeeking refuge in Allah as Lord, King, and God of people from the whispering-retreating evil of jinn and people
Key DisagreementIs "al-waswās al-khannās" exclusively Shayṭān/jinn or does it include human whisperers what does 114:6 "min al-jinnati wa n-nās" (from jinn and people) modify?Identity of the whispererAl-Ṭabarī: both jinn and human whisperers 114:6 explicitly states the evil comes from both categories, making the whisperer category include humans who whisper evil into hearts
Competing OpinionsSome exegetes: 114:6 refers to the people who seek refuge (addressing jinn and human believers alike); others: identifies two types of whisperers (jinn whisperers and human whisperers)Two readings of 114:6Al-Ṭabarī: 114:6 identifies two types of whisperers jinn and human based on the grammatical connection to "al-waswās al-khannās" rather than to the refuge-seekers
MethodologyGrammatical connection analysis determining whether "min al-jinnati wa n-nās" modifies the evil (waswās) or the people (seeking refuge) via syntactic dependencyGrammatical tarjīḥAl-Ṭabarī: the grammatical dependency on "waswās" is more natural "the whisperer from jinn and people" rather than "the people from jinn and people"

Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī

Al-Ṭabarī opens with the triple invocation Rabb al-nās (Lord of people), Malik al-nās (King of people), Ilāh al-nās (God of people) and analyses why three divine titles are used when one would suffice. He records via Ibn ʿAbbās chain that the three titles correspond to three modes of divine authority: Rabb = the nurturing creator-sustainer relationship; Malik = the political sovereign-subject relationship; Ilāh = the worship-commanded relationship. Each mode is a basis for seeking refuge one seeks refuge from an owner in a mightier owner, from a subject in a higher sovereign, from a worshipper in the god who commands worship.

Al-Ṭabarī then examines "al-khannās" (the retreater/skulker). He records via a chain from Ibn ʿAbbās that Shayṭān sits on the heart of a human and whispers but when the person remembers Allah (yathkuru Allāha), Shayṭān retreats (khanasa); when the person becomes heedless again, Shayṭān resumes whispering. "Al-khannās" thus describes the behaviour pattern: continuous advance during heedlessness, retreat at remembrance. Al-Ṭabarī notes this is both a description of Shayṭān's method and a prescription for human defence dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is the mechanism that causes the khannās to retreat.

قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ ۝ مَلِكِ النَّاسِ ۝ إِلَٰهِ النَّاسِ Qul aʿūdhu bi-rabbi n-nās maliki n-nās ilāhi n-nās Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of people, the King of people, the God of people. Al-Ṭabarī via Ibn ʿAbbās chain: three titles, three modes of relationship Rabb (nurturing authority), Malik (sovereign authority), Ilāh (worship authority). Seeking refuge combines all three: the one who seeks refuge does so as a creature, a subject, and a worshipper invoking the full scope of divine authority over him.
الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ۝ مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ Alladhī yuwaswisu fī ṣudūri n-nās min al-jinnati wa n-nās Who whispers into the breasts of people from among jinn and people. Al-Ṭabarī: "min al-jinnati wa n-nās" identifies two categories of whisperers: jinn (Shayṭān and his kind) and human beings who whisper evil into others' hearts. The whisperer is not exclusively Shayṭān humans who whisper doubt, evil, or corruption into the hearts of others are equally included in this refuge-prayer.
  • Triple title analysis: Al-Ṭabarī reads Rabb/Malik/Ilāh as three non-redundant modes of divine authority each provides a distinct basis for the refuge-seeker's appeal to divine protection.
  • Khannās behaviour pattern: Via Ibn ʿAbbās chain, al-Ṭabarī establishes that al-khannās describes Shayṭān's advance-retreat cycle whispering during heedlessness, retreating at remembrance of Allah.
  • Dhikr as defence: Al-Ṭabarī extracts the practical implication: since the khannās retreats at remembrance of Allah, dhikr is the primary human mechanism against whispered evil a theological basis for Islamic devotional practice.
  • Human whisperers: The identification of "min al-jinnati wa n-nās" as two categories of whisperers (not as two categories of refuge-seekers) extends the surah's scope human social whispering of evil is equally covered.
  • Closing of Jāmiʿ al-Bayān: Al-Ṭabarī closes his Tafsīr by noting that the Quran's arrangement ends with the most comprehensive and practical refuge-prayer moving from divine cosmology at the beginning of the Quran to the daily human struggle against whispered evil at its end, making the Quran itself a complete circle from creation to the believer's moment-by-moment dependence on Allah.

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