Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
الْبَاء
al-ba'
The ba (preposition)
Nahw · syntaxSpecific particle (ba)core term2,620+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The single-letter preposition بِ — with, by, in, because of — attaching its meaning to the noun it pulls into jarr.
Definition (modern)
مِنْ مَعَانِي (الْبَاءِ): الاسْتِعَانَةُ، وَالسَّبَبِيَّةُ، وَالظَّرْفِيَّةُ، وَالْمُصَاحَبَةُ. فَالاسْتِعَانَةُ هِيَ الدَّاخِلَةُ عَلَى آلَةِ الْفِعْلِ، وَالسَّبَبِيَّةُ هِيَ الدَّاخِلَةُ عَلَى سَبَبِ الْفِعْلِ وَعِلَّتِهِ الَّتِي مِنْ أَجْلِهَا حَصَلَ.
“Among the meanings of the ba': seeking means (isti'ana), causation, containment, and accompaniment. Isti'ana is the ba' entering upon the instrument of the act; causation is the one entering upon the act's cause — the reason it came about.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
الاسْتِعَانَةby means of — the tool
الظَّرْفِيَّةin — place or time
الْمُصَاحَبَةtogether with (= مَعَ)
Understand it
One letter, a whole toolbox: كَتَبْتُ بِالْقَلَمِ uses the pen as tool, مَاتَ بِالْجُوعِ names hunger as cause, نَصَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ places the victory at Badr, and اهْبِطْ بِسَلَامٍ brings peace along. Classical lists open with a fifth meaning, ilsaq — sheer attachment, as in مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ — which Ibn Hisham calls the one meaning the ba never loses. Whatever the shade, the grammar is constant: the noun after بِ is in jarr.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A single بِ welded to the front of a noun in jarr. To name its meaning, test substitutes: if بِوَاسِطَة fits it is the tool, if بِسَبَب fits it is the cause, if فِي fits it is place or time, if مَعَ fits it is accompaniment.
In the Qur'an
وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ
Al Imran 3:123 — “And Allah had already given you victory at Badr”
بِ here passes the فِي test — 'at Badr' — and puts بَدْر into jarr.
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