Question

It is not correct to say that a body contains a certain amount of heat, yet a body can transfer heat to another body. How can a body give away something it does not have in the first place?

Short answer

It is not correct because the notation of a body “containing a certain amount of heat is nonsensical.

Step-by-step solution

About heat transfer from one body to another.

Let’s assume we assign an arbitrary value to “the heat contained in the body” in some reference state. Then, presumably, the “the heat contained in the body” in some other state would equal the heat in the mentioned reference state plus the heat added to the body goes to the second state.

This is entirely ambiguous the heat added on the path we take from the reference state to the second state.

Conclusion

There is no consistent way to define the “heat in a body” it is a useless concept that describes nothing.