and thus it must necessarily have come to them. As for whether the agent himself came in person here, or whether it need not follow that he came—as in His statement:

“Allah came upon them.” [al-Hashr 2]

—this requires further distinction. Some people equate the direct construction akhrajahu with the construction akhraja bihi using bāʾ, but the correct view is that they differ. The point here is that, in such expressions, the wording explicitly indicates that coming and arriving are attached to the noun governed by bāʾ, as with someone whom another causes to come and arrive. Thus Allah Most High says:

“Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me.” [Yūsuf 83]

“Only Allah will bring it upon you, if He wills.” [Hūd 33]

Thus, Allah brought punishment upon them. He also says:

“We will surely come against them with forces they cannot withstand.” [al-Naml 37]

Nothing in this construction suggests that what is brought serves as a setting for the action in relation to its agent, or that the agent is above it, inside it, or any of the other meanings conveyed by the preposition bāʾ. The expression fīhi (“in it”), however, conveys a distinctive meaning that bāʾ does not. To make it equivalent to bāʾ is therefore to distort words from their proper places and alter the language. When someone comes in a fine form, in a fine condition, in fine clothes, or among a group