'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : and from his narration on the authority of ibn 'abbas that he said regarding the interpretation of allah's saying (say: i seek refuge in the lord of daybreak): '(say: i seek refuge in the lord of daybreak) he says: say, o muhammad, i seek protection, and it is said: i seek refuge, in the lord of daybreak; and it is also said that al-falaq refers to a well in the fire; and it is also said that al-falaq is a valley in the fire.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (say: i seek refuge in the lord of the daybreak…) [113:1-5]
the commentators of the qur'an said: “the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, had a jewish servant boy. the jews approached him and kept after him until he gave them some fallen hair from the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, as well as a few teeth from his comb. the jews used these to cast a spell of black magic on him. the person who was behind this was the jew labid ibn al-a'sam. he then put the hair in a well belonging to banu zurayq called dharwan. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, fell ill for a period of six month, during which the hair of his head fell off; he imagined that he slept with his wives when he did not, and was withering away without knowing the reason. as he was one day sleeping, he saw two angels coming to him. one of them sat at his head and the other at his feet. the angel who sat at his head asked: 'what is wrong with the man?' the second angel responded: 'a spell of black magic was cast on him'. the first one asked: 'and who is responsible for this sorcery?' the second angel answered: 'it is labid ibn al-a'sam, the jew'. the first angel asked again: 'what did he use to cast black magic on him?' the second angel said: 'he used a comb and fallen hair'. the first angel asked: 'where is it now?' the second angel said: 'it is inside the spadix of a palm tree beneath the stepping stone which is inside the well of dharwan', at which point the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, woke up. he said: 'o 'a'ishah, do you not think that this is from allah to inform me of the cause of my illness?' he then sent 'ali [ibn abi talib], al-zubayr [ibn al-'awwam] and 'ammar [ibn yasir] who drained the water of that well as one would drain the dust of henna. they lifted the stone and got the spadix out and found therein some of the hair of the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, as well a few teeth from his comb. they also found with it a string with eleven knots knitted with needles. allah, exalted is he, then revealed surah al-falaq and surah al-nas (al-mu'awwidhatayn). with each verse that the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, read one knot was untied and the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, felt some lightness. when the last knot was untied, the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, got up as if he was released from a cord to which he was tied up. gabriel, peace be upon him, kept saying: 'in the name of allah i cast this incantation on you to protect you from anything that might harm you and that allah heals you from the resentful envier and the evil eye'. those around him said: 'o messenger of allah, should we not head toward that evil person and kill him?' he said: 'as for me, allah has cured me, and i dislike causing evil to other people'. this is of the forbearance of the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace”.
muhammad ibn 'abd al-rahman ibn muhammad ibn ja'far informed us> abu 'amr muhammad ibn ahmad al-hiri> ahmad ibn 'ali al-mawsili> mujahid ibn musa> abu usamah> hisham ibn 'urwa> his father> 'a'ishah, may allah be well pleased with her, who said: “a spell of black magic was cast on the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, such that he used to imagine that he did things when he did not. he was at my place, one day, and he began imploring allah in earnest. then he said: 'did you not feel, o 'a'ishah, that allah has answered me about that which i have enquired?' i said: 'and what is that, o messenger of allah?' he said: 'two angels came to me…', and he mentioned the whole story”. the whole story is narrated by bukhari from 'ubayd ibn isma'il from abu usamah. the same narration has different channels of transmission in both the authentic collections of bukhari and muslim.
the book asbab nuzul al-qur'an concludes here, and praise be to allah, the one, the munificent, and may allah bless our master muhammad, his household and all those who follow them in excellence.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : 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. 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). 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, 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), the afflicted person will not be given steadfastness when facing it [affliction] on the day of resurrection.he said:according to ibn ʿabbās y, 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 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.
