What is Bada' (change of destiny)?

The divine decree as regards human destiny is of two types: (a), a definitive and unconditional destiny, which is not susceptible of any kind of alteration; and (b) an open-ended and conditional destiny, which, in the absence of certain conditions, can be altered, such that another destiny will replace it.
Taking this into account, let us note that all groups in Islam regard bada' as a tenet of the faith, even if not all actually use the term. But this quibbling over terms does not detract from the proposition itself, for what matters is the meaning of the essential content [of the term] and not its name.
The reality of bada' is founded upon two principles. The first is that God has absolute power and authority over the whole of existence, and whenever He wills, He can replace a given destiny with another one; both types of destiny mentioned above are contained within His foreknowledge, and there can be no kind of alteration in respect of His knowledge. Therefore, the first type of destiny does not in any way imply a limitation of God's power, such as would strip Him of the ability to change this destiny.

The reality of bada' is founded upon two principles. The first is that God has absolute power and authority over the whole of existence, and whenever He wills, He can replace a given destiny with another one; both types of destiny mentioned above are contained within His foreknowledge, and there can be no kind of alteration in respect of His knowledge. Therefore, the first type of destiny ( a definitive and unconditional destiny, which is not susceptible of any kind of alteration) does not in any way imply a limitation of God's power, such as would strip Him of the ability to change this destiny.

God, in contrast to the belief of the Jews that 'the hand of God is tied', has infinite power; in the expression used by the Qur'an:

Nay, His hands are spread out wide ... (Sura al-Ma'ida, 5: 64).

In other words, God's creativity and the actions deriving from His power are continuous; and by the authority of the words: 'Every day He is acting upon an affair' (Sura al-Rahman, 54:29) God has not disengaged Himself from the work of creation, rather, the process of creation is a continuous one.
Imam Sadiq comments as follows upon the above quoted verse wherein the Jews claim that 'the hand of God is tied':

'The Jews say that God has disengaged Himself from the work of creation; He has nothing to do with such matters as increasing or diminishing daily sustenance, the length of life, and so on. Denying this, God has said: "Their hands are tied, and they are accursed for saying so. Nay, His hands are spread out wide. He bestoweth as He will".' (Sura al-Ma'ida, 5:64) Then he adds: 'Do they not hear the words of God: "God effaceth what He will and establisheth [ what He will], and with Him is the Mother of the Book".' (Sura al-Ra'd, 13:39)

The conclusion from the above points is as follows: Islamic belief is based on God's infinite power, absolute authority and perpetual creativity; God is capable, at any time He so wishes, of bringing about a transformation in the things destined for man, such as his life-span or his daily bread, causing one destined thing to replace another thing previously destined, both things destined having been previously inscribed in the Umm al-kitab ('Mother of the Book'),
The second principle regarding bada' is that acts of supreme power and authority issue from God; and when He brings about the replacement of one destiny for another, it is not without wisdom and rectitude. Some of these changes of destiny are brought about by man himself, who can- through his free will, his decisions and his way of life-lay the groundwork for a change in his destiny.

The second principle regarding bada' is that acts of supreme power and authority issue from God; and when He brings about the replacement of one destiny for another, it is not without wisdom and rectitude. Some of these changes of destiny are brought about by man himself, who can- through his free will, his decisions and his way of life-lay the groundwork for a change in his destiny.

Let us suppose, for example, that a man does not accomplish his duties towards his parents. Naturally, this shortcoming is improper and will have a detrimental impact upon his destiny. Now if he should repent of his actions, and thereafter diligently perform all of his responsibilities, he lays the foundations for a change in his destiny, opening himself to the grace expressed in the verse:

God effaceth what He will and establisheth what He will (Sura al-Ra'd, 13:39)

The inverse case can also be envisaged according to this principle. We shall now mention some of the many verses and sayings on this issue:

1. Truly, God changeth not the condition of a people until they change that which is in their hearts. (Sura al-Ra'd, 13: 11)

2. And if the people of the townships had believed and kept from evil, surely We should have opened for them blessings from the sky and from the earth. But they denied, and so We seized them on account of what they used to earn. (Sura al-A'raf, 7:96)

3. Suyuti writes in his Qur'anic commentary that Imam 'Ali asked the Prophet to explain the verse 'God effaceth what He will'. The Prophet responded:

'I shall enlighten your vision and that of my umma with the explanation of this verse. Giving alms in the path of God, being virtuous towards one's father and mother, performing pious acts-[such deeds] transform misfortune into good fortune, prolong one's life and prevent a bad death.'[1]

4. Imam Baqir said:

'Respecting the ties of kinship purifies one's acts and bestows blessings upon one's wealth; it also protects one against adversity, renders one's [final] reckoning easy, and pushes further away one's death.'[2]

 Taking these two principles into account, it is clear that the concept of bada' pertains to an evident aspect of Islamic belief. Leaving aside the question of the expression or the term itself, all the schools of Islam are at one in accepting that meaning to which the term refers.
 Finally, in order to clarify why this Islamic belief is expressed by the term 'bada' Allah' we offer the following two points for consideration. Those who employ this term follow the Prophet's usage of it. Bukhari relates in his Sahih that the Prophet said, in regard to three persons suffering from the diseases of septacaemia, alopecia and blindness:

'God -Exalted and Glorified be He- has brought about [these diseases] in order to try them [thereby].' Then he related in detail the story of their lives, and showed how it was that God, on account of their denial of His blessings removed from two of these persons their previous good health and inflicted upon them diseases of their forefathers. [3]

This kind of usage [also] derives from the [linguistic] principle of resemblance and from conventional modes of speech in the language of the Arabs. It is customary for a person to say in Arabic, when he changes his mind about something, 'bada-li', that is, 'It has changed for me'. Religious leaders, wishing to speak the kind of language that will be understood by those to whom their speech is addressed, have used this expression in connection with God. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the Qur'an repeatedly refers to such attributes as plotting, scheming, deceiving and forgetting, in connection with God. But it is obvious that God's majesty infinitely transcends the possibility of perpetrating such actions-such as they are conventionally understood by man, and in the forms that they take amongst human beings. The attributes mentioned above are given in connection with God as follows:

Lo, they plot a plot, and I plot a plot. (Sura al-Tariq, 86:15-16)

Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. (Sura al-Nisa', 4:142)

They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them [accordingly]. {Sura al-Tawba, 9:67) 

 In any case, the scholars of Shi'ism, taking note of the impossibility of alteration in the knowledge of God, have carried out extensive research into the use of the term bada', which we cannot summarize here; students wishing to investigate the matter in detail should refer to the books noted below. [4]

1. al-Suyuti, al-Durr al-manthur, vol. 3, p. 66.
2. al-Kulayni, al-Usul min al-kafi, vol. 2, p. 470.
3. al-Bukhari, Sahih,, vol. 4, p. 172.
4. Shaykh Saduq, Kitab al-tawhid, ch. 54; Shaykh Mufid, Tashih, al¬i' tiqad, p. 24; Muhammad .b. Hasan al-Tusi, 'Iddat al-Usul (Qom, 1404/ 1983), vol. 2, p. 29; Muhammad b. Hasan al-Tusi, Kitab.al-ghayba (Najaf, 1385/1965), pp. 262-4. Translator's note: A useful discussion of this concept, especially insofar as the 'delay' or 'postponement' of the fulfilment of prophecies is concerned within Shi'ism, can also be found, in Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, pp. 1 5 2-8.