Surah Falaq Ayat 3 in Arabic Text
English Translation
Here you can read various translations of verse 3
And from the evil of darkness when it settles
From the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads;
from the evil of night’s darkness when it spreads around;
“And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness; (or the moon as it sets or goes away).
From the evil of the darkness when it is intense,
And from the evil of a dusky night when it overspreads (its gloom),
the harm in the night when darkness gathers,
اور اندھیری رات کی تاریکی کے شر سے جب اس کا اندھیرا پھیل جائے
Quran 113 Verse 3 Explanation
For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Falaq ayat 3, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.
Ala-Maududi
(113:3) from the evil of night’s darkness when it spreads around;[5]
5. After seeking Allah’s refuge generally from the evil of the creatures, now prayer is being taught for seeking refuge from the evil of some special creatures in particular. The word ghasiq in the verse literally means dark. Thus, at another place in the Quran it has been said: Establish the salat from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night, ila-ghasaq-il-lail. (Surah Bani lsrail, Ayat 78), and waqab means to enter or to overspread. Prayer has been taught to seek refuge in particular from the evil of the darkness of night, for most of the crimes and acts of wickedness are committed at night, harmful animals also come out at night, and the night was a very dreadful thing in the time chaos prevailed in Arabia when these verses were revealed. Raiders came out in the dark of night and plundered and destroyed settlements. The people who were thinking of putting the Prophet (peace be upon him) to death, also made their secret plans at night, so that the murder could not be detected. Therefore, command was given to seek Allah’s refuge from the evils and calamities which descend at night. Here, the subtle relation that exists between seeking refuge from the evil of the dark night with the Lord of breaking dawn cannot remain hidden from anybody having insight and understanding.
A difficulty is confronted in the explanation of this verse in view of several authentic traditions. Aishah has reported: Once during a moon-lit night, the Prophet (peace be upon him) took hold of my hand and pointing to the moon said: Seek Allah’s refuge, for this is al ghasiq idha waqab. (Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Nasai, lbn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, Hakim, Ibn Marduyah). To explain this some scholars said that idha waqab here means idha khasaf, i.e. when the moon is eclipsed. But in no tradition has it been mentioned that when the Prophet (peace be upon him) pointed to the moon, it was in eclipse. In the Arabic lexicon also idha waqab cannot mean idha khasaf. In our opinion the correct explanation of this Hadith is that since the moon rises in the night (in the daytime it does not shine even if it is there in the sky), what the Prophet (peace be upon him) meant was this: Seek God’s refuge from the night, the time when it (the moon) appears, for the light of the moon is not as helpful for the one who resists as for the one who attacks, and not as helpful for the victim of the crime as for the culprit. On this very basis the Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: When the sun has set, devils spread on every side. Therefore, gather your children together in the house and keep your animals tied down until the darkness of night disappears.
Ibn-Kathir
The tafsir of Surah Falaq verse 3 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer Surah Falaq ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 5.
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