1. Text-Critical Rejection by Top Companions:
Historical preservation records (Musnad Aḥmad 21186, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī) document that Ibn Masʿūd—a primary authority explicitly designated by Muhammad for Quranic learning—excluded Surah 113 and Surah 114 from his official codex (muṣḥaf), maintaining they were defensive incantations (ruqyah) rather than scriptural text.
2. Canonization Uncertainty:
The physical omission and scratching out of these chapters by an expert companion challenges claims of unanimous, letter-for-letter preservation, indicating the 114-chapter canon involved later editorial selection.
3. Validation of Occult Superstition:
Surah 113:4 commands refuge from "blowers in knots" (al-naffāthāti fī-l-ʿuqad), affirming primitive physicalist views of witchcraft. Cross-referencing this with traditions (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3268) describing Muhammad falling under a wizard's spell depicts magic as an objective force capable of overpowering a prophet.
Surahs 113 and 114 (Al-Muʿawwidhatayn) serve as invocations seeking protection from evil, supernatural harm, and the whispers of unseen prodders.
The structural integrity of the entire 114-chapter Quranic canon is completely undermined by the historical preservation records of these final two surahs.
The Historical Fact: According to the most authoritative early Islamic historical records (Musnad Ahmad 21186, Sahih al-Bukhari, and Tafsir Ibn Kathir), the eminent companion Ibn Mas’ud—whom Muhammad explicitly commanded Muslims to learn the Quran from—categorically refused to write Surah 113 and Surah 114 in his official written codex (Mus'haf).
The Text-Critical Flaw: Ibn Mas’ud adamantly maintained that these two chapters were not part of the written Quranic text. He stated that they were merely spoken, defensive incantations (ruqyah) that Muhammad used to protect himself from spells. He would physically scratch these verses out of his copies.
If a top-tier eyewitness companion who memorized the text directly from the mouth of Muhammad did not consider the final two surahs to be actual scripture, the modern 114-chapter canon is proven to be the result of later human compilation choices and editorial guesswork, completely shattering the narrative of a perfectly preserved heavenly text down to the very letter.
The text explicitly legitimizes primitive, physicalist views of magic, lowering the divine voice to validate localized folk superstition.
Surah 113:4:
And from the evil of the blowers in knots." (In Arabic: Wa-min sharri al-naffathati fee al-'uqad)
The Scientific Error: The verse commands Muslims to seek active physical refuge from female sorcerers who practice witchcraft by physically tying knots and blowing or spitting onto them.
This verse explicitly legitimizes ancient, occult superstitions, treating magic as a real physical force that carries material danger.
When cross-referenced with Sahih al-Bukhari 3268—which states a pagan wizard successfully cast a spell on Muhammad that made him lose his memory and experience delusions for days—the text reveals a deeply primitive, non-scientific worldview that treats sorcery as an objective physical reality capable of completely overpowering a prophet of God.