because the predicate “learned” affirms his possession of knowledge. The adverbial expression added afterward means that this affirmed fact and the relation conveyed by the wording are present to me within my soul. Whether they exist externally is another matter. Likewise, when one says, “He is loved or esteemed in my eyes,” the qualification supplied by the adverbial expression indicates that this love and esteem exist within the speaker’s soul.

Thus, if the meaning of the sentence is present in the soul—and this is preceded by the presence of its two component terms—then the meaning of an individual term is likewise present in the soul. Hence one says, “So-and-so is still present with me,” meaning within my soul: what is present is his likeness and mental image. The distinction between the person himself being contained externally and his image being contained in the soul through knowledge, love, and the like depends on what contains and what is contained.

Thus, when speaking of someone dead or absent—as when someone meets a person who has been away and says, “By Allah, you have always been present with us”—the apparent meaning of these words is: “We have continued to hold you in our hearts and mention you with our tongues,” and the like. In such a case, one may also say, “You have always been with us,” when they have been