Bada'
Encyclopedia
Badā' is a Shia concept regarding God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

. It refers to God revealing His true will about a decision, wherein the people thought His will had already been made on that issue. The Shia do not believe that God had no knowledge of the ultimate outcome.

Explanation of Bada’

The Shi’a concept of Bada’ can be thoroughly explained through the words of Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari
Morteza Motahhari
Ayatollah Murtaza Motahhari was an Iranian scholar, cleric, lecturer, and politician.Motahhari is considered among the important influences on the ideologies of the Islamic Republic, and was a co-founder of Hosseiniye Ershad and the Combatant Clergy Association...

 (a disciple of Ayatollah Khomeini):
Furthermore, bada' does not occur in the knowledge of God (which is absolute and unchanging, and is described as "al-lawh al-mahfûz” – i.e. the protected tablet), it can only occur in the knowledge of humans and angels (which is not necessarily absolute, and is described as "lawhu 'l-mahw wa 'l-ithbat” – i.e. the tablet that can be erased and re-written). An example of this is stated by Imam Ali:
This last passage is significant; in it, although Imam 'Ali claims to have the access to 'ilmu 'l-ghayb (knowledge of the unseen) he acknowledges that it is totally dependent upon the will of Allah.

In the Quran

According to the Qur'an, God originally appointed thirty nights of worship for Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

, and later increased it to forty nights before granting him the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

:
The wisdom behind the change in the length of appointment was only known afterwards, wherein the people took to disbelief:
The change from thirty nights to forty nights do not reflect a change in God's Knowledge, but only a change in the knowledge that Moses possessed.

During the life of Muhammad

The Muslim's initially faced Jerusalem during their prayers, up until 17 months after the Hijra
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...

. Thereafter Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 was commanded to change the direction of prayers (Qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...

) towards the Ka‘bah
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...

 of the Sacred Mosque
Masjid al-Haram
Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims worldwide turn towards while performing daily prayers and is Islam's holiest place...

. The wisdom behind the change was also mentioned in the Quran:
The change once again reflects only a difference in the knowledge of Human beings.

Badā' with respect to Imāmate

An example of Bada' with Imamate
Imamate
The word Imamate is an Arabic word with an English language suffix meaning leadership. Its use in theology is confined to Islam.-Theological usage:...

 is offered by three of the early Shia scholars:
  • Kulayni in ‘al-Kafi,’ vol. 1, pg. 326, 328,
  • Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid has narrations:
    • for - ‘al-Irshad,’ pg. 336-37
    • against -
  • Shaykh Tusi
    Shaykh Tusi
    Shaykh Tusi , full name: Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hassan Tusi , known as Shaykh al-Taʾifah was a prominent Persian scholar of the Shi'a Twelver Islamic belief.-Birth:...

     in ‘Al-Ghaybah,’ pg. 120, 122.


Narrations from these sources state that the Imāmates
Imamate
The word Imamate is an Arabic word with an English language suffix meaning leadership. Its use in theology is confined to Islam.-Theological usage:...

 of Mūsā al-Kādhim
Musa al-Kadhim
' was the seventh of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'a Islam. He was the son of Imam and his mother was Hamidah Khātūn, a student and former Zanjiyyah slave...

 and Hasan al-‘Askarī were given to them after the death of their siblings, who were originally supposed to be the Imāms. Due to these narrations, the belief among the Ismaili Shi’a that the Twelver Shi’a replaced Isma'il ibn Jafar with Musa al-Kadhim through the excuse of bada’, has been a point of criticism by the Ismaili’s against the Twelver’s. However these narrations are rejected by Twelvers based on narrations from Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

, as well as narrations from the respective fathers of those Imāms, in which they were directly named as the successors to the Imāmate.

As well, even though Shaykh Tusi cited some of the traditions, he himself along with Shaykh Saduq were both opposed to the idea of Bada' with regards to Imāmate, arguing that if matters as important as Imāmate were subject to change, then the basic fundamentals of belief should also be subject to change. Muhammad Baqir Majlisi has also offered explanations of the concept of bada'.

Bada’ with respect to the Mahdi

In some traditions attributed to Muhammad al-Baqir
Muhammad al-Baqir
Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...

 the number of the years which had to elapse before the emergence of the Mahdi
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...

 was specified. For example, a close associate of Imam al-Baqir called Abu Hamzah Thabit ibn Dinar, recalled in the presence of Imam al-Baqir what Imam Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...

 had said about the end of the period of trial for the Shi’a after 70 years, which would be followed by a period of ease and comfort. Abu Hamza complained that the period had elapsed without the prophecy being fulfilled. Imam al-Baqir explained that God initially did set the time for the Mahdi’s appearance at 70 years. However, when Husayn ibn Ali
Husayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib ‎ was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...

 was killed the time was postponed to 140 years. This time span (of 140 years) was kept a secret and was only told to the close associates of the Imams. However, when the close associates revealed the time span to others, God delayed the appearance of the Mahdi for a further period. This time period is known only to God.

This hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 however, is not considered reliable by Shia scholars, based on the chain of narrators (isnad) of the tradition, and because there are no other people who have narrated this tradition. According to the isnad, one of the narrators in the chain would only have been one years old at the time when he heard the hadith.

Bada’ with respect to the foretold signs

According to the Twelver Shi’a, God has not Promised the occurrence of the foretold signs, and thus all such signs are subject to change due to God’s new Decision (bada’). The traditions state that amongst all the signs there are few signs that are definite (i.e. it is unlikely that God changes His Will on their occurrence). Thus, they are very likely to take place before the advent of the Mahdi, as noted in the narration of Umar Ibn Hanzala:
Even for such definite signs God reserves bada’. God may change those of the definite Wills that are not categorized as His Sunan or His Promises. For instance, according to Twelvers, before the reappearance of the Mahdi, al-Sufyani would certainly rise. This is a definite Will, but it is not categorized as a promise. It is just an insisted future event meaning that it is unlikely that God cancels His Permission for the occurrence of this event, though it is still possible. According to the following tradition, God may make bada’ even in such insisted news. Dawud Ibn al-Qasim al-Ja'fari narrated:
Moreover, God may cancel the occurrence of the definite signs that were supposed to take place before the advent of the Mahdi.

The possibility of bada’ means the foretold signs are subject to change or cancellation. All the mentioned signs before the Mahdi’s arrival, even if they finally occur, they may happen miraculously in an unpredictable manner. It is narrated:
Therefore, the Mahdi may reappear at any time and his reappearance may be hastened (or postponed) without need for the occurrence of any of the reported definite signs. This can occur by asking God to advance the Mahdi’s reappearance from the bottom of one’s heart, and hence God may make bada’ and advance his reappearance.

The existence of bada’ plays a central role in the Twelver way of expecting the Mahdi. According to Twelvers, by having faith in bada’, people would keep themselves ready all the time to receive the Mahdi. However, a person who has no faith in the alteration of the signs (due to bada’) and thinks of the reappearance of the Mahdi after the sighting of the signs is actually waiting primarily for the sighting of the signs and then for the Mahdi. Such an individual may deny the Mahdi if he reappears without the signs being fulfilled, as Abu Ubaida al-Hadhaa narrates:

Sunni view

Bada has two meanings in the Arabic language:
The first meaning is “Appearance after hiding.” For example, you say “bada” the gates of the city, or the gates of the city had appeared. The second meaning is the “origination of the new idea.” For example, you say “bada” for him a matter, or he got a new idea in a matter. [Mukhtar Al-Sahhah 7/2278, Lisan Al-Arab 14/66, and Majma’a Al-Bahrain 1/45]

The two meanings are reported in the Quran and are attributed to humans. For the first meaning of the word, Allah says, “Whether ye bida “show” what is in your minds or conceal it, Allah calleth you to account for it.” [Al-Baqarah, 284] And the second meaning is when Allah says, “Then it occurred to the men after they had seen the Signs, (that it was best) to imprison him for a time.” [Yousef, 35]

These two meanings – appearance after hiding and the origination of the new idea – must be preceded by ignorance and followed by knowledge. Both of these two meanings are according to the Sunni view on Bada not applicable to Allah. Sunnis view it is a disbelief to attribute such meanings to Allah.

A similar idea to bada is presented in the Tora. In Genesis, chapter 6, verse 5, “But the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made mankind on the earth, and he felt highly offended. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth…”

According to some Sunnis, Shia’s books do not say that Allah knew something He did not know before. Shia means that Allah made up a new matter for the people. However, what Ahl Al-Sunnah (Sunnis) disagree with the Shia is that the Shia use a phrase "bada" or “bida” that means nothing in Arabic but attributing ignorance to Allah in the opinion of Sunnis.

Al-Bida is one of the tenets of faith for the Shia. Many Shia scholars talked about Al-Bida in “Aqeedah” (tenets of faith) books. Some of these scholars are Ibn Babaweeh Al-Qummi in “Kitab Al-Tawheed,” and “Al-E’tiqadat”; Al-Kulayni in Al-Kafi; and Al-Majlisi in Bihar Al-Anwar.

Some Sunnis believe that the theory of Al-Imamah (Imamate) lead to the invention of Al-Bida. They believe the Shia invented Al-bida to save their theory in Al-Imamah from collapsing. Many Shia narrations in the time of Jaffar Al-Saddiq reported from Al-Saddiq himself that the next Imam would be Isma’eel, the eldest son of Al-Saddiq. However, something happened that was not supposed to happen: Isma’eel died before his father did. This really hurt the Shia and the biggest split in Shiasim had just occurred. A huge sect of Shia insisted that Isma’eel was the next Imam, and they are the Isma’eeli Shia. The other sect of Shiasim (the twelver shia), who believed that Mousa the son of Al-Saddiq is the next Imam, claimed that bida happened to Allah. The twelver Shia attributed to Al-Saddiq that he said, “It had never appeared to Allah as it appeared in Isma’eel my son. Allah had taken him away before me so that we may know he is not the next Imam after me.” [Kitab Al-Tawheed, Ibn Babaweeh Al-Qummi, p.336, and Al-Kafi, vol.1, p.327]

Therefore, according to Sunnis the Shia are saying that Allah told the people that Isma’eel is the next Imam, then he told them that Mousa is the next Imam. The same thing happened with Al-Hadi (the tenth Imam for the twelver Shias). Al-Hadi had announced that his son, Muhamed, was to be the next Imam. Nevertheless, Muhamed died before his father did. Hence, Al-Hadi gave the next leadership to his other son Al-Hasan Al-Askari and said, “O’ son, thank Allah, for He made a new decision about you.” [Al-Kafi, vol.1, p.326-327. Basa’er Al-Darajat by Al-Saffar, p.473. Al-Irshad by Al-Mufeed p.337. Al-Ghaybah by Al-Tusi, p.122]

And as happened with the Isma’eeli Shia, some of Al-Hadi’s supporters refused to acknowledge the death of Muhamed the son of Al-Hadi and insisted that Muhamed is still alive but in hide. Moreover, they interpreted the announcement of Al-Hadi as a taqqiyah and a cover for the truth.

According to some Sunnis this issue pushed the Shias to adopt the idea of bida to help the Imamah theory, especially that the Shia claim that Mohammed had named the twelve Shia Imams by their names.

Another reason believed by some Sunnis, that provoked the Shias into adopting bida is their belief that their Imams know the unknown. Therefore, if some Shia narrations claim that certain things would happen, and they did not happen, then the Shia could claim that it was because of Bida

Al-Majlisi says in Bihar Al-Anwar that Abu Jaffar said, “O’ Abu Hamzah, if we told you something, and then another thing happened, then Allah does as He Desires. And if we told you something today, and then we tell you the opposite tomorrow, then Allah deletes what He Wishes, and confirms what He Wishes.” [Bihar Al-Anwar by Al-Majlisi, vol.4, p.119. Tafseer Al-Ayashi, vol.2, p.217. Al-Burhan fi Tafseer Al-Quran, vol.2, p.299]

External links

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