Prepositions in the Quran — "Fi", "Ala", "Min" and the Secrets of Their Selection

Prepositions and the secret of selection: Scholars of balaghah pay close attention to why one preposition was chosen over another — each carries a semantic nuance added to the sentence.

"Fi" (in) — containment: Indicates total inclusion and encompassment: "Those who believe in the unseen" (2:3) — if it said "of the unseen" it would be partial. "Fi" encloses all of the unseen within their belief. "In qisas there is life for you" (2:179) — life is embedded entirely within qisas.

"Ala" (upon) — superiority: Literal and figurative: "Upon Allah place your trust" (5:23) — trust as full reliance. "Upon them and upon vessels you are carried" (23:22) — literal mounting of animals and ships.

"Min" (from/of) — origin and partition: "Among the believers are men who were true" (33:23) — partition: they are a subset. "From a drop of fluid" (75:37) — origin: the starting point of creation. "He created from water" (25:54) — the original material.

Tadmin (semantic loading): A verb carries the meaning of another verb that takes a different preposition — "the servants of Allah drink with it (bi)" meaning they are satisfied by it — "drink" is loaded with the meaning of "be quenched."