from its original location, whereas the thing being compared is not like that. This distinction is obvious to the listener and admits of no confusion, just as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“You will indeed see your Lord just as you see the sun and the moon.”

He compared one act of seeing to another. Although seeing concerns an object seen in both the case being compared and the case used to illustrate it, the listeners knew that the two objects seen were not alike. Likewise, here he compared one diminution to another, even though the respective agents of diminution, the amounts removed, and the sources from which they are removed are not alike in the cases compared.

Thus, everyone knows that a teacher does not lose his knowledge through teaching. Rather, they liken it to the light a lamp produces: anyone may kindle a flame from it, and people may take as many flames as they wish, while it remains unchanged. This is an apt analogy. When someone lights something from a lamp, Allah brings into being in his wick or fuel a fire of the same kind as the original fire—although it may be said that it arises through the transformation of that air—while the original fire remains. Likewise, the learner acquires in his heart knowledge like the teacher’s knowledge, while the teacher’s knowledge remains. Hence, ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Knowledge grows through practice—or he said, through teaching—whereas spending diminishes wealth.”

On this basis, it may be said that, in the hadith of Abū Dharr, His words “of what I possess” and “of My dominion” belong to this same category. There are then two possible interpretations:

The first is that what He has given them falls outside what is designated by His dominion and what is designated by what