The Reason for the Revelation of Soorahs Al-Falaq and An-Naas

There is hadeeth in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree and other books of hadeeth which mentions that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) himself suffered from the effects of magic. Zayd ibn Arqam reported that a Jew by the name of Labeeb ibn A'sam, cast a magical spell on the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and when he began to suffer from it, Jibreel came to him and revealed the Mu'awwithataan (Soorahs Al-Falaq and An-Naas) then said to him, "Surely it was a Jew who cast this spell on you and the magical charm is in a certain well." The Prophet sent 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib to go and fetch the charm.

When he returned with it, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) told him to unite the knots in it, one by one, and recite a verse from the Soorahs with each. When he did so, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) got up as if he had been released from being tied up.[1]

Place of Revelation

There are no authentic hadeeths which clearly indicate where this chapter was revealed. However, most scholars of Tafseer (Qur’anic exegesis) hold that it was among the early chapters revealed in Makkah [prior to the Hijrah] as it has most of the characteristics of the makkan revelations. Al-Hasan, 'Ataa, Ikrimah and Jaabir were among the early generations of scholars who were of that opinion.

On the other hand, Ibn ' Abbaas[2], in one of his opinions, considered it to be from the Madeenan period and so did Qataadah.[3]

It is related that Ibn Mas'ood[4] claimed that these two chapters were actually supplications and were not chapters from the Qur’an. However, he was in contradiction to the consensus of the Companions of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in this regard. Ibn Qutaybah wrote that Ibn Mas'ood did not write them in his copy of the Qur’an because he used to hear Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) seek protection for al-Hasan and al-Husayn with them. Thus, he considered them to be like his other supplication for protection:

"A'oothu bi kalimaa til-laahit-taammati min kulli shaytaanin wa haammati wa min kulli 'aynin laammah. (I seek refuge with the perfect words of Allah from every devil, poisonous pest and every harmful evil eye.)"[5]

This and other narrated information forms the basis of some orientalists' claim that there were a number of different codices of the Qur’an among the Companions and that it was Caliph 'Uthmaan who destroyed them leaving only the one he favored. However, this argument is weak from a number of perspectives.

1. Aboo Bakr al-Anbaaree stated that this statement of Ibn Qutaybah is rejected because the mu'awwithataan are from the Lord of all the worlds' words inimitable to all creation, while A'oothu bi kalimaa til-laah are clearly from the words of a human being. The words of the Creator which are a miracle for Muhammad (Peace be upon him), seal of the prophets, his eternal evidence against all disbelievers, cannot be confused with human words to someone of the status of Ibn Mas'ood in eloquence, knowledge of the language, aware of the various types of expression and the art of speech. [6]

2. Ubayy ibn Ka'b[7] related to Zirr ibn Hubaysh that Ibn Mas'ood had not recorded the mu'awwithataan in his copy of the Qur’an and then stated: "I testify that Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) informed me that Gabriel told him, “Qul a'oothu bi rabbil falaq, [Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Dawn,]” and he said it. Then he told him, “Qul a'oothu bi rabbin-naas [Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of humankind],” and he said it. Therefore, we say what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said."[8] This narration confirms that the mu'awwithataan were a part of the Qur’an.

3. The consensus of the Companions on the matter takes precedence over the opinion of a single Companion, especially considering that those who were among the first to accept Islam in the Makkan period disagreed with Ibn Mas'ood.

4. The contents of the last two chapters are not in any way contradictory to the rest of the Qur’an for there to be any advantage in adding or deleting them to or from the main text. Ibn Mas'ood would not have voluntarily burned his codex, had he thought that it was correct. The Qur’anic text inherited from Iraq, where he was the leading scholar matches the text of all other know manuscripts from other parts of the Muslim world.

5. Some suggested that Ibn Mas'ood did not record the mu'awwithataan because he was safe from forgetting them, so he deleted them from his copy of the Qur’an in the same way that he deleted al-Faatihah (the Opening Chapter); he had no doubt in his perfect memorization of it.[9]