"On Teaching" Summary

A teacher asks Almustafa to talk about teaching, and he says that one can reveal only that which lies half-asleep in the dawning of people's knowledge. Teachers transmit faith and lovingness and lead students to the threshold of their own mind. Astronomers can talk of space but not give anyone their understanding. Musicians can sing but not grant anyone an ear or voice. Physicists can talk of weights and measures but not conduct anyone away. One person's vision cannot give another person wings. Everyone stands alone in God's knowledge and must be alone in his knowledge of God and the earth.

"On Teaching" Analysis

Self-knowledge, Almustafa now says, is the only directly accessible knowledge. Experts can talk about their specialties but not imbue them in their pupils without the pupils themselves tapping into God's vast store of objective knowledge...