and it is only a knowledge he learned from the Messenger of Allah - Exalted is His Might - who derived it in his turn from the Originator - majestic is His praise -. This saying is considered from the category of the manifest matter (al-amr al-zahir) [which] our Master brought forth here for the covering (al-sitr) and the cloaking (al-talbis) upon its people. And according to the manifest (al-zahir), then indeed our Master the Commander of the Faithful accompanied the Master the Messenger since his childhood, and grew and was raised under his care, and from him he received his sciences and his disciplines, so from this starting point and the exoteric rule (al-qa'idah al-zahiriyyah) came the answer of our Master to the mentioned man.

[314] Validating the correctness of that is this report narrated from the trustworthy ones (al-thiqat) from our Master the Commander of the Faithful - Exalted is His Might - that he said:

"If Allah desired the manifesting of His command, no one would have been ignorant of it, and if He desired its covering, no one would have known it, but He manifested it covered, and He covered it manifest.