Surat An-Nass (114): Part 2 of the Pair of Protection

As explained in the previous post, Surat An-Nass (114), which means “people,”  is one of two short Surahs (chapters) of protection, the other being Surat Al-Falaq (113), a prayer for protection from “outer” dangers, explained in the post linked above. This, the final Surah of the Quran, is a du’a or prayer/ supplication for protection from inner dangers, from that which could get to our very hearts, feeding us lies that confuse us about the truth. Once deluded, our inner compass, our intuitive sense of truth and falsehood, loses its direction and we become lost. We might even become passionately lost, inverting real ethics by refusing to listen to any truth and looking at Good itself as bad, until what is harmful to us and leads to our total destruction becomes, we insist despite obvious illogic, the true Good. The Quran, in Surat Fatir 35:8, asks the question, “Then is the one to whom the evil of his deed has been made attractive so he considers it good [like one rightly guided]?”