Al-Falaq is a brief five ayat (verse) surah, asking God for protection from evil: This surah and the 114th (and last) surah in the Qur'an, an-Nās, are collectively referred to as al-Mu'awwidhatayn, "the Refuges", as both begin with "I seek refuge"; an-Nās tells to seek Allah for refuge from the evil from within, while al-Falaq tells to seek Allah for refuge from the evil from outside, so reading both of them would protect a person from his own mischief and the mischief of others.

The word "al-Falaq" in the first verse, a generic term referring to the process of 'splitting', has been restricted in most translations to one particular type of splitting, namely 'daybreak' or 'dawn'.

In the pre-Islamic period, soothsayers claimed the power to cause various illnesses.

⁴ Wamin sharrin n-naffāthāti fi l-‘uqad(i)

⁴ Wamin sharrin n-naffāthāti fi l-‘uqad(i)

⁵ Wamin sharri ḥāsidin idhā ḥasad(a) 1 Say: "I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of the daybreak,

[12] Although scholars including ibn Taymiyyah claim that Muhammad has commented on the whole of the Qur'an, others including Ghazali cite the limited amount of narratives, thus indicating that he has commented only on a portion of the Qur'an.

[13] Ḥadīth (حديث) is literally "speech" or "report", that is a recorded saying or tradition of Muhammad validated by isnad; with Sirah Rasul Allah these comprise the sunnah and reveal shariah.

According to Aishah,[14][15] the life of Muhammad was practical implementation of Qur'an.

[16][17][18] Therefore, higher count of hadith elevates the importance of the pertinent surah from a certain perspective.

This surah was held in special esteem in hadith, which can be observed by these related narratives.

According to hadith, Muhammad used to recite this surah before sleeping every night.