or other means that some human beings are white. Likewise, when he pictures a human being addressing him, he may picture a human being in general, without assigning him to either group. He may picture conversing with someone from the white group, or someone from the black group addressing him.

It may therefore be said to him: The example you have given can be conceded only in the case of someone who knows of no human beings other than white people. When he pictures conversing with a human being, his representation is limited by his knowledge. If he does not know that white people exist, he will not picture his interlocutor as white. Rather, he may picture his interlocutor simply as a human being, without his colour entering his mind. If his colour does enter his mind, it can only be a human colour known to him, namely black.

But if he knows that white people exist and imagines himself addressing them, even though he has not yet seen them—as when the king of the black people is told, “Envoys from the white people have arrived to see you, and they are white”—then, when he mentally rehearses what he will say to them, he will not picture himself addressing a black person.

Likewise, if he knows that both groups exist and imagines conversing with a human being in general, he will not picture that person’s colour. Indeed, he may compose books, establish endowments, and put this in writing in Arabic, although he may never have seen anyone but white people. Nevertheless, when addressing people in general, he does not picture the colour of those addressed. Thus, his address includes both white and black people. The wording corresponds to the meaning, namely what he meant and intended. As for his speech, had he intended only white people, for example, his wording would not have extended