or am I not better than this contemptible man—meaning Moses—who can scarcely make himself understood? Why, then, were bracelets of gold not cast upon him, or why did the angels not come with him in close array?” (Az-Zukhruf 43:51–53). In the end Allah drowned him in the very water he had boasted of.

Such, in brief, is what the noble verse “Truly your Lord lies in wait” (Al-Fajr 89:14) points to.

The fifth verse is His—exalted is He—saying: “He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal” (Ghafir 40:19). He—that is, Allah—“knows the treachery of the eyes.” The word khāʾinah (treachery) here can be taken as a verbal noun, like ʿāqibah or ʿāfiyah; or it may be read as an active participle derived from khāna (to betray), in which case the phrase is a construction of an attribute with its qualified noun. This, however, is a point of grammar that need not detain us. What matters is that eyes are capable of betrayal. A person may look at something and no one nearby would suspect that his gaze is unlawful, yet Allah knows full well that it is.

Likewise, someone may glance at another with hatred, while the one being looked at is unaware of that hostility, but Allah knows it is a look of hatred. Or a person may fix his gaze on something forbidden, and any onlooker would be unable to tell whether he approves or disapproves of it; yet Allah, glorified be He, knows precisely what that look means—for He knows the treachery of the eyes.

He also knows what the breasts hide, that is, what the hearts conceal, for the hearts are lodged in the chests, and it is with them that understanding takes place, and