Absolute negation yields nothing within the soul, for if something were yielded, it would possess existence, and non-existence from all aspects can never be an existence.

Al-Ghazali says: The sciences are embedded within the origin of the soul potentially, like water in the earth, a pearl at the bottom of the sea, or a gem in the heart of the mine. Learning is the seeking of the emergence of that thing from potentiality into actuality.

And learning is nothing other than the return of the soul to its substance and the bringing forth of what is within it into actuality. We have indeed seen a scholar fall ill, whereby his soul turned away from all sciences, and he forgot his known data and they became confused to him; then when he recovered and health returned to him, the forgetfulness departed from him and the soul returned to its known data, remembering what it had forgotten during the days of illness. Thus, we came to know that the sciences did not perish but were merely forgotten.