What Shayṭān Casts Into It

There follows a verse of particular interest, verse 52:

Every prophet and messenger sent before — whenever We inspired something in them and they related it, Shayṭān would work corruption into people's understanding of it in their minds. Whenever people listened to the Qur'an, or to any of the scriptures, Shayṭān would try to mislead them in their understanding of it.

There is an extensive discussion on this verse, and some have made mistakes in interpreting it; even al-Jalālayn has something of a difficulty in its treatment of the verse. But Allah (swt) always abrogates the corruption that Shayṭān casts in, and then makes firm His āyāt, His verses; and Allah is Knowing.

The reason this happens — that Allah has permitted it at all, that Shayṭān should be able to do this — is to distinguish the good from the bad: to mark out those who are willing to be pure and to make the effort to arrive at the correct understanding. That is the purpose of it.

For this reason the one thing we are told to do before reading the Qur'an is to recite aʿūdhu bi-llāhi mina al-shayṭāni al-rajīm. We do not want Shayṭān to manipulate and colour our understanding of the Qur'an, and that can easily happen if we do not seek protection from him. This is why we say: I seek refuge in Allah from Shayṭān the accursed; and why we recite it before the Qur'an.

Many people, on standing up to speak, say aʿūdhu bi-llāhi mina al-shayṭāni al-rajīm. That is not really its place: aʿūdhu bi-llāh belongs rather to the reading of the Qur'an, and otherwise bismillāh suffices — though one may, of course, seek protection from Shayṭān wherever one wishes.