✦ AT A GLANCE ✦
الناس
An-Nas
✦ Why this name
Mankind — an-Nas, the last surah of the Quran.
✦ When it came
The second of the two surahs of refuge. The Quran ends here, with a person asking to be kept safe.
✦ The story
The Quran began with a request for guidance. It ends with a request for protection.
Refuge is sought with Allah under three titles, and they escalate: *the Lord of mankind* — who raises and cares for; *the King of mankind* — who has authority over; *the God of mankind* — who alone is worshipped.
And the thing being sought refuge from is not an army or an illness. It is *the whisperer who withdraws* — something that speaks into the chest and then retreats so you think the thought was your own.
And the last words of the entire Quran name where it comes from: *"from among the jinn and mankind."* Some of the whispering is not from the unseen at all. It is from people.
✦ How it unfolds
✦ Verses to carry
✦ Where it sits
The Quran opens with Al-Fatihah asking for guidance and closes with An-Nas asking for protection — a request at each end.