Doctrine of badd'

The meaning of bada for a man is this: the appearance (bada literally means appearance') of an idea about some action which the man did not have previously, in such a way that it changes his intention to do that action. That is to say that something happens which alters his understanding and knowledge about that action, so that he conceives the intention of leaving the work after he had previously intended to do it. This is due to man's ignorance concerning what is of benefit to him, and because he comes to regret doing or having to do what he had intended to do.

Bada' in this sense is impossible for Allah, because ignorance and imperfection are the cause of it, and this is impossible for Allah. The Imamites do not believe in this. lmam Sãdiq (A.S.) said:

Someone who supposes that bada' occurs to Allah about some matter, causing Him to regret, is considered by us to be an unbeliever in Allah (kafir).

And he also said:

I will keep at a distance from me someone who supposes that bada occurs to Allah about some matter which He had not realised previously.

Some traditions have been related from our Imams which have caused people to suppose that we believe in bada' in the sense described above. For example, Jmam Sãdiq (A.S.) Said:

There was no bada' for Allah like the bada' in the case of my son Ismã'il.

Because of such traditions, some writers of certain Islamic sects have accused the Imamites of belief in bada', attacking our group and the way of the Household of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt), and using this supposed belief to denounce the Shi'a.

The correct aspect of this question is according to what Allah revealed in His Book:

Allah blots out, and He establishes whatsoever He will; and with Him is the Essence of the Book (13; 39)

And the meaning of this is that Allah makes something appear on the tongue of the Prophet or his wa/i or in some other way according to the situation because of some benefit which calls for this revelation, then he abolishes that revelation so that it becomes other than what it was before, although Allah knew about this from the beginning. We can see an example of this in the incident of Ismá'il when his father Ibráhim saw in his dream that he was slaughtering his son. The meaning of the saying of Imam Sãdiq is that Allah has not revealed any matter as He had done in the case of Ismä'il (the son of Imam Sãdiq), by taking his life before He took his father's. This was so that people Would understand that Ismá'il was not the lmam, although it had appeared in the situation as if he were, because he Was the eldest son.

And similar to this meaning of bada' is the abrogation of previous shard'i' (p1. of shariah) by the arrival of the shariah of our Prophet (S.A.), and even the abrogation of some of the commandments which were brought by Muhammad (S.A.)

The faith of Shia Islam; Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar