Background of Surah An-Nas:
Revealed after surah Al-Falaq. It has 6 verses and is the last surah of the Qur'an.
VERSE 1
Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
Allah swt is teaching us to seek protection with Him. Allah is the Lord of the entire creation; big or small, jinn and mankind, animal, planets, etc. But people only mentioned here in order to honour us and secondly because we're afraid of other people whether they're a family member, boss, co-worker, etc. So when Allah is telling us to seek refuge with Him from these people whom we fear it's for our own good and makes sense because Allah is their Lord and owns them.
VERSE 2
The Sovereign of mankind.
Allah is the one who has complete control and authority over us. He can decide whatever and do whatever.
VERSE 3
The God of mankind,
Allah is the one and only one who is worthy of worship because He is our Lord.
VERSE 4
From the evil of the retreating whisperer -
Seek refuge from evil from the one who whispers. Whispers are that which are put into the hearts of people so it can be an idea, fear,feeling, etc but there is no reality to it. So one assumes negative about someone but no truth behind it.
Shaytwan is the one who disappears (retreats) so he comes and goes. After he whispers he is chased away once Allah is remembered and then comes back again and again. The stronger one becomes in faith and wants to become a better muslim, the more shaytwan attacks. The more knowledge one has, the more frequently shaytwan comes because he knows that the person is on the straight path so his goal is to make us lose.
VERSE 5
Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind -
It's easy to get rid of tangible things but what's in the heart is difficult to remove. Whatever is in our heart is what we act upon so watch the state of your heart and must always seek refuge from whispers of shaytwan. He comes in a very subtle way and puts filth and negative feelings into our hearts. He didn't even spare Adam (as) so we need to seek refuge from him.
VERSE 6
From among the jinn and mankind."
Shaytwan comes in both forms; jinn and mankind. In jinn form we can't see him and he whispers to us and puts filth in our hearts. Regarding "from mankind", shaytwan sends other people against us. Usually what happens is we're entertaining an evil thought in our heart, but we realize it's from shaytan and we reject it but shaytwan doesn't leave us alone. He goes to someone else like our siblings and tells them to go tell us something evil and then we end up doing the wrong. Or sometimes we had the intention to pray sunnah but then he inspires someone to walk in and talk to us and then we get distracted and end up not praying the sunnah. Don't get deceived by shaytwan.
*In both surahs we're taught that we need to seek Allahs refuge and we are weak and in danger. No one can say that he/she is rightly guided and will always be rightly guided. Shaytwan made a vow that he will lead us all astray and he has in fact lead many astray. The only ones saved are those Allah protected. So must seek refuge with Allah. All the other supporters are like the spider's house; it does not shelter the spider so if one relies on any other than Allah then he is in danger. The prophet pbuh used to recite these 3 Quls before bed, morning and evening, after every fardh prayers.
May Allah swt protect is from the evil of our souls, the evils from our enemy shaytwan and whatever evil is out there. Ameen.
