Examining the Issue of Bada (Alteration in the Divine Will) from the Shiite and Sunni Perspectives on the Quran and Tradition

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith, Qom University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Bada (alteration in the divine will) literally has two meanings: "emergence after concealment" and "emergence of a new theory". In Imami theology, it means the generative developments of the field of "elimination & confirmation", which is predetermined in the secret knowledge of God. In fact, following Ahl al-Bayt (AS), it is metaphorically used for the secret knowledge of God. All of the following indicate the rational and incidental possibility of bada in the field of "elimination & confirmation": verses related to the predeterminations of the tablet of "elimination & confirmation", narrations related to such topics as prayer, repentance, kinship ties, kindness to parents, alms of faith, cooperation in righteousness, God wariness and avoidance of cooperation in sin and transgression, and their positive effects such as increasing of life and sustenance, turning misery into happiness, as well as the negative effects of leaving them such as shortening of life and sustenance, manifestation of misery, calamities and worldly torments, which have been accepted by Shiites and Sunnis and agreed upon in their tradition and commentary collections. However Sunni researchers, in spite of accepting all of the said matters and their generative effects, avoid calling them as bada. The present research demonstrates that the conflict between the two sects is verbal; because whoever admits the acceptance of repentance, the healing of the sick, the answer to prayer, the change of misery to happiness, the transformation of evil into good, etc. has to accept their intellectual concomitances too.

Keywords

References

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