“They conceal themselves from people, but they do not conceal themselves from Allah, who is with them when they plot by night words that displease Him.”

In the two Sahīh collections, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported to have said:

“The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when entrusted, he betrays the trust.”

Another hadith states:

“A believer may be disposed to any trait except treachery and lying.”

There are many similar examples. If this is so, how does a person betray his own soul, when he does not conceal his words and deeds from it, keeping them secret from it as he does when betraying people who do not see him? Likewise, he betrays Allah and the Messenger when out of sight, thus failing to be among those who fear Allah unseen. And why are these particular acts, rather than others, described as betrayal of one’s own soul?

The more likely interpretation—and Allah knows best—is that His words:

“You were betraying yourselves”

are like His words:

“Except one who makes a fool of himself.”

In constructions of this kind, the Basran grammarians say that the noun is in the accusative as an accusative of purpose. They take the verb safiha (“to be foolish”) away from its meaning in the language, for it is an intransitive verb; they therefore have to make it transitive without evidence.

As for the Kufan grammarians—such as al-Farrā’ and others, together with those who followed them—they hold that this noun is accusative as a specifying complement. In their view, a specifying complement may be definite just as it may be indefinite. They cite many examples from Arab usage, such as the expression: “So-and-so felt pain