His words, Exalted is He:

Say, ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak,

He said:

Truly God, Exalted is He, commanded him [the Prophet] in these two sūras [113 and 114] to take refuge (iʿtiṣām) in Him, seek help (istiʿāna) from Him, and show [his] need (faqr) for Him.

He was asked, ‘What is showing [one’s] need?’ He replied:

It is the [substitution of one] state by another (huwa’l-ḥāl bi’l-ḥāl), for the natural disposition (ṭabʿ) is dead [in and of itself] and its life is in displaying this.^{1Presumably what is meant here is that by displaying or acknowledging its neediness, life in the remembrance of God will be substituted for the death of our natural state.}

He also said:

The best form of purification (ṭahāra) is that the servant purifies himself from [the illusion of] his own power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa).^{2The word ṭahāra is used in Islamic law to signify ritual purity.} Every act or saying that is not accompanied by the words: ‘there is no power or strength save in God’, will not have God’s support, Mighty and Majestic is He. Furthermore, every saying which is not accompanied by the proviso,^{3lit. ‘exception’ (istithnāʾ), that is, the proviso of saying ‘God willing’, on which see above 48:27 and p. 198, n. 12.} will incur a punishment for [the person who said it], even if it was an act [or saying] of righteousness. And for every affliction (muṣība) which is received without being accompanied by the saying of ‘return’ (istirjāʿ),^{4Istirjāʿ being the utterance of the words: ‘Truly, we belong to God and truly to Him we will return’ (innā li’Llāhi wa-innā ilayhi rājiʿūn), which words are customarily said on hearing of the death of someone.} the afflicted person will not be given steadfastness when facing it [affliction] on the Day of Resurrection.

He said:

According to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهم, al-falaq means the morning (ṣubḥ) while according to al-Ḍaḥḥāk it refers to a valley in the Hellfire. [On the other hand], according to Wuhayb^{5Wuhayb b. al-Ward (d. 153/770).} it refers to a chamber in Hell, and according to Ḥasan it refers to a well in Hell.

It has also been said that He intended by it all people (jamīʿ al-khalq). Or it has been said that it refers to the rock from which water springs forth.^{6Most of these explanations of al-falaq may be found in Ṭabarī’s Jāmiʿ al-bayān, as well as the opinion that it is a prison (sijn) within Hell, or that it is one of the names of Hell.}

from the evil of that which He has created,

from man and jinn. This is because Labīd b. Aʿṣam al-Yahūdī cast into the well of Banū Bayāḍa a spell against the Prophet, who used to frequent it. [One day as] he headed towards [the well] the spell [cast against him] possessed him and the Prophet ﷺ became affected by it, so God sent down the two sūras of seeking refuge (muʿawwidhatayn),^{1Sūras 113 (al-Falaq) and 114 (al-Nās).} and the Angel Gabriel عليه السلام informed him of the magic spell. Then he sent two men among the Companions to [the well] and they took it [the knot] out of the well. They brought it to the Prophet ﷺ, upon which he started to untie the knot reciting the verses the while, so that the Messenger ﷺ was cured without delay after having completed the two sūras.

After this occurrence, Labīd used to go to the Prophet ﷺ but he did not see any trace of [his spell] on the face of the Prophet ﷺ, neither did he mention to him [what he had done].^{2Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, ‘Kitāb al-Ṭibb’.}

and from the evil of darkness when it gathers,

That is to say, when night falls, or it has been said that it means when the darkness intensifies. It has also been said [that it means]: when night first encroaches on [lit. ‘penetrates,’ dakhala] the day, [that is], when night is just beginning, devils among the jinn are released and anyone who is afflicted in that hour will not recover.

Sahl [also] said regarding and from the evil of darkness when it gathers:

Its inner meaning refers to remembrance, when regard for the self enters it, thereby screening it from sincerity towards God in the remembrance [purely] of Him.

and from the evil of the women-blowers,

That is, the sorceresses who blow on knots.

and from the evil of the envier when he envies.’

This means the Jews who envied the Prophet ﷺ to the point that they practised sorcery against him.^{1In his commentary on this verse, Ṭabarī includes, among others, the opinion that what is meant by the one who envies is the Jew, and the tradition he cites adds that it was merely on account of envy that the Jews did not believe [in Muḥammad’s message]. However, Ṭabarī himself opts for the opinion that the Prophet is being commanded to seek refuge from the evil of anyone who envies, and he discounts the view that it is specifically intended to refer to the Jews.} Ibn ʿAbbās said: In this verse [is a reference to] the lower self of a human being [lit. son of Adam] ⸢and his eye (wa ʿaynuhu)⸣.^{2Added on the basis of F638, f. 72a, or, according to Z515, f. 144b and F3488, f. 328a, his eyes (ʿaynayhi). Presumably what is meant is the evil eye, which is aroused by envy, and indeed Ṭabarī includes in his commentary on this verse a tradition of Qatāda which glosses the words, and from the evil of the envier when he envies, with the words, ‘from the evil of his eye or his [lower] self’.}