قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلنَّاسِ
The analysis of these three elements (the imperative qul; the verb aʿūdhu being imperfect and first person singular; the bāʾ al-ilṣāq) was made in the section on al-Falaq; it will not be repeated here.
But the repetition itself calls for attention. The two sūras open with the same four words: qul aʿūdhu bi-Rabbi. Then one says al-falaq, the other al-nās.
This is a structure that locks the two texts to one another. The shared opening makes the difference visible: one enters by the same door but comes out into two different rooms. And precisely for this reason, every difference between the two sūras must be read as deliberate — because the text has marked the difference by building it on a common ground.
The question of the root. The lexicographers are divided in two about the origin of the word, and both views are recorded in the classical sources:
1. From the root أ-ن-س. Its original form is unās (أُنَاس); the hamza at its head was dropped and, with the article al- prefixed, it became al-nās. From this root: uns (closeness, familiarity, being at ease with another), ins (the human kind), insān, anīs (a familiar friend), mustaʾnis (one who grows used to something). At the centre of the root stand visibility, being known, being familiar — beings who see and know one another.
2. From the root ن-و-س. Naws means to swing, to sway, to move from one side to the other. It has been said that people may have taken this name because they are constantly in motion.
The first view is the more widespread. The second is interesting as an association but has been counted weak.
There is also this: a view is transmitted that the word insān derives from the root نسي (to forget) — the human being is the being that forgets. This view is mentioned and repeated in the classical sources, but it is disputed in point of language and is not accepted by the majority. I record it; I do not make it a ground.
The function of the word in this sūra. If we take the first view as our basis, the root of ins/nās carries visibility. This will set up an exact opposition with the word jinn, which we shall meet in the sixth verse — because the root of jinn carries coveredness. Between its first word and its last, the sūra is preparing this opposition.
al-Fātiḥa, the first sūra of the Qurʾān, opens with "the Lord of all the worlds" — the widest circle possible. The last sūra of the Qurʾān says "the Lord of the people" — the circle has narrowed.
This narrowing is not without meaning. Taking refuge is a personal act, and a being who is being addressed is expected to be called out to with the attribute that bears directly on him. What the frightened person needs is not to know the general workings of the universe but to know in whose hand he himself is.
Moreover the threat of the sūra too is directed at the human being: the whispering is put "into the breasts of people", and part of its source is again the human being. The subject of the taking of refuge and the stage of the threat are thus the same field: the human being. The sūra builds its whole terminology on this single field.
That the Qurʾān opens in al-Fātiḥa with the widest circle and closes in al-Nās with the narrowest is an observation about the arrangement of the codex and a frame I have constructed myself; I do not present it as a classical transmitted report.
The analysis of the word Rabb was made in the section on al-Fātiḥa; why this name is chosen in the context of taking refuge was treated in the section on al-Falaq. In sum: Rabb means the one who stands in a relation, who looks after and watches over, and who has disposal over. And refuge is taken with whoever owns the thing that is dangerous.