LessonsThe Point of Resemblance: Single, Multiple and Composite FormsQuiz

The Quranic example contains several connected aspects:
1. Possession of or responsibility for a potentially beneficial source.
2. Carrying it as a charge or burden.
3. Failure to obtain the intended benefit.

Extracting just the last item — “neither benefits” — points in the correct direction but weakens the full rhetorical force. Deprivation despite possession of the means is more specific and more striking.

The point is intellectual and composite. Books and carriers are physical, but the obligations of knowledge, the opportunity for understanding and failure to benefit form a moral and intellectual relation rather than a single sensible property.

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Constituents of the Quranic composite point

The Point of Resemblance: Single, Multiple and Composite Forms

The Quranic example contains several connected aspects:
1. Possession of or responsibility for a potentially beneficial source.
2. Carrying it as a charge or burden.
3. Failure to obtain the intended benefit.

Extracting just the last item — “neither benefits” — points in the correct direction but weakens the full rhetorical force. Deprivation despite possession of the means is more specific and more striking.

The point is intellectual and composite. Books and carriers are physical, but the obligations of knowledge, the opportunity for understanding and failure to benefit form a moral and intellectual relation rather than a single sensible property.