The Significance Of Bida And The Role Of Semantics In Its Misinterpretation

Bida - being one of the major Islamic issues - had been a ground for conflict amongst both the major sects. Our Sunni brothers, in their own delusion, considered Bida as an exclusively Shi’a issue, and therefore adopted a sarcastic attitude towards us. This showed that they had either not tried to understand the subject or due to some other malicious aspirations, deliberately spinned the matter to make it a controversial debating subject.

The same situation prevailed upon other issues across the board. However, if we remove the personal prejudice for a moment and try to reach the depth of the problem - with a little indulgence - then it would become apparent that any difference that existed between the two schools is no more than the semantics.

In fact, this matter was one of the most distinguished chapters of Islamic beliefs. Its approval was the recognition of an illustrious attribute of God, namely irada or desire. Belief in Bida actually negated Jewish ideology that God had accomplished whatever He had set out to do, and now His pen had dried out, and no change could take place in His script. Some, on the other hand, claimed that God had transferred His powers to a selected few from among His creatures, and He is now resting in peace.

This doctrine of Bida also undid the work of many philosophers, who claimed that God had only created the initial mind and then His creativity had been exhausted. This original mind then replicated itself until its tenth residue created the universe. There were other similar ideologies, which suggested break in God’s performance.

Hence the concept of Bida was a splendid tool to eradicate such malignant views. This concept entailed that all authority rested with God, and His blessings and sanctions were continuous and ongoing. He gave preference to whichever commandment He approved of, and delayed any event He liked. He took life and gave life. He placed illness upon someone and set another on the path of recovery. He boosted and reduced people’s sustenance. He put someone on the seat of authority and dethroned another. He prolonged one’s life due to his acts of compassion and reduced another’s life or sustenance, due to his malicious behaviour, infidelity and repeated sinning.

It is said that God is in fresh elegance and with renewed grandeur every day. He made extinct whatever He wished to and provided a dress of reality to anything He liked, because He possessed the Supreme Knowledge (Umm al-Kitab). It is entirely within His authority to create and command.

Reasons For The Misconception About Bida

What made this issue more complicated was the ordinary meaning of the word Bida, in Arabic. It was generally used for discarding an old concept in the light of modern discoveries. In this sense this could not be applied to God at all, because it pointed to His ignorance. In view of this literal connotation, the opportunists used it as a pretext to spread lies about the straight faction, just to make ordinary Muslims move away from them, by accusing that God, according to their ideology is an ignorant being.

They also disseminated their evil propaganda by decorating the vocabulary in their own colours and said that Shi’as believed in a God, who started an act today, and then abandoned it when the folly of His work was realized, and He started to move in the opposite direction. Glory be to Him, no believer could have such a distorted concept of God.

People of intellect and understanding know that a phrase could not always give same meaning at every usage, in fact, its sense changes with the change of object. Allama Jalaluddin, in his book Eiqan, gave seven meanings for the Qur’anic phrase,

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ

“Show us the straight path” (1:6).

If a person were not fully guided, then the phrase would mean,

“Show us the right path”,

If the person were a guided one then it would mean,

“Keep us on the straight path”,

and, if he had both of these qualities then the Verse would mean,

“Enhance our station of guidance and perception even more”

If we applied the similar rulings to the word - Bida, then its intended meaning would not correspond with its literal meaning, and it would then mean that God manifested an event, which was beyond human imagination, just as He has declared in the Qur’an,

وَبَدَا لَهُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يَكُونُوا يَحْتَسِبُونَ ‎

“... And there will appear unto them, from their Lord, that wherewith they never reckoned” (39:47).

The phrase Bada’ Allaha (God experienced Bida) would now mean (Bida min Allah), i.e. “it appeared to people, from God.” and not as they presumed - “It appeared to God.” Therefore, the Arabic letter ‘L’ (pronounced as Lam) in Allah, should be considered Min, and this technique was well known among the grammarians. It was mentioned in Mughni ul-Labeeb that the 14th meaning of (Lam) was Min.

Bida Does Not Happen With God Due To Ignorance

It was established through the previous work that Bida did not happen with God, due to ignorance. The statements of the Imams have supplemented this. They further elaborated that, “God knows the event before Bida”.

Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (‘a) cursed those people who proclaimed Bida in terms of God’s ignorance. It was related by Mansoor Ibn Hazim that he asked Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (‘a), “Is it possible that an event might happen that is not in God’s knowledge?” Imam replied, “No, this is not possible. If someone claimed like this then God might annihilate him”

Mansoor again asked, “My lord, is it true that whatever has happened or will happen before the Day of Judgement is all in God’s knowledge?” Imam replied, “Yes, God knew the behaviour of things in advance, even before their advent. There is nothing in the Heavens and the Earth, which is hidden from God.”

What a shameful behaviour it is then, of those who tried to smudge the Shi’a ideology using the pretext of Bida. If they were still determined in their ignorance, they should provide us with any statement from any of our Imams, to support their claim. Several everyday examples such as, wealth followed by poverty and poverty pursued by wealth, the restoration of health and sickness, substitution of honour with disgrace, life ending in death, could all be cited as manifestation of Bida in our day-to-day life.

The Derived Meanings Of Bida

We shall now discuss the derived meanings of Bida. It had been known that God had two types of systems in place. Tashreeyi – dealt with the legal and social aspects such as, prayers, fasting, division of heritage etc. Takweeni was concerned with life, death, sustenance etc.

In the Tashreeyi system, the word naskh meant to replace and implement one legal order with another. Its equivalent in the Takweeni system was called Bida, which means to change man from one state into another state. In naskh, the change of space, time and personality resulted in the alteration of the applied regulations. This was an established fact among all Muslims and the Qur’an echoed it as well:

مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ أَوْ نُنسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِّنْهَا أَوْ مِثْلِهَا

“When We abrogate a sign or cause it to be forgotten, We substitute it with something better or similar” (2:106).

In Bida the same philosophy prevails. God varied people’s states, for different reasons. This was such a vivid reality that no wise man could deny it. It did not reflect God’s ignorance or a deficiency on His part. Rather, it mirrored His Sovereignty, Might and wide-ranging Authority.

Our Imams said that God had not been worshipped with any other form (of supplication), unlike in Bida. According to the narration of Hisham Ibn Saalim, Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (‘a) had said; “No other act could display the splendour of God in the manner that Bida enunciated His magnificence.”

It is strange to see that people believed in naskh in the legal matters of Islamic Shariah, but declined to accept Bida in Takweeni matters, when the nature of both was the same.

Our interpretation of Bida had been based on the works of Shaykh Al-Mufid and Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Damad, and it appeared that Shaykh At-Tusi also followed the same approach. Whatever, objection we could raise about Bida, the same could be formulated against naskh.

Bida Happens In God’s Guarded Knowledge

It is evident from several authentic traditions from the Imams that there are two types of God’s knowledge – Makhshuf (Perceptible) and Makhzun (Guarded). The later knowledge is exclusive to God and He does not share it with any of His Messengers and Trustees, whereas, the former type is shared with His appointees.

It had been mentioned that Bida happened within His Guarded knowledge, because if it happened within the domain of His perceptible knowledge, it would result in the contradiction of His messengers. God does not like His messengers to be refuted.

It was related from Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (‘a) and Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (‘a), who said, “God had two types of knowledge, and one of those was guarded knowledge, which was not shared with any of His representatives. He educated His Messengers and Angels with the other knowledge. Whatever he shared with them must happen, as He would not let down His Messengers. He altered and amended His guarded knowledge as He desired.”

Clarification Of Doubt

It became evident from the above discussion that Bida did not happen in relation to the news that had been given to the Prophets. History however revealed a few incidents where Bida had happened with the Prophets.

It was written in Masabih al-Anwar on the authority of Imam Ar-Ridha (‘a) that God revealed to Prophet (S), asking him to inform a King that He intended to kill him at such and such time. When the King was informed, he panicked and cried to the Lord for respite until the time that his son would grow up to take over his responsibilities.

The Lord told the Prophet that he should inform the King that his life had been prolonged for further fifteen years. The Prophet then asked God that He knew that he had never lied in his life, so how could he now go and inform the King of the change in His decision? God replied that as Prophet, he had been appointed to deliver His message, so he should obey and follow His instructions.

In the same book, it had been mentioned with reference to Usul Al-Kafi that once a Jew went to the Prophet (S) and gave his greetings in a manner that meant that God might kill him. The Prophet (S) replied to him in his usual manner. The companions asked the Prophet, why was he so polite with him, while he had cursed him. The Prophet (S) replied, “This man is going to collect wood from the jungle, where he will be bitten by a deadly black snake and he would die.”

After sometime the man returned from the jungle, safe and sound. The companions asked the Prophet (S) about the reason for his safe return. The Prophet (S) asked the Jew to unpack the wood and they found a black snake curled up within the bundle of wood. The Prophet (S) asked the Jew, if he had done any virtuous deed that day. The Jew replied that he had two pieces of bread with him. He had eaten one and given the other in charity. Listening to his reply the Prophet (S) said that it was this charity that saved him from this calamity. He then reiterated that charity (Sadaqa) could repel the ugliest of deaths. A similar incident had also been mentioned about Jesus in some books. It was said that he informed a woodcutter about his death but he had evaded it.

There were several answers to this doubt regarding Bida. We would keep to the two short answers. Firstly, the news that was given to the Prophets was of two types - certain and probable. Bida could happen to the probable occurrences but not to the certain ones. Just as Imam Ali (‘a) while pointing to the future events of 70th Hijra had said, “God can abrogate whatever He wishes and establish whatever He desires, because He has the supreme knowledge.”

Secondly, the reason that was given in these traditions to explain that Bida could not take place in the news sent to the Prophets and the Messengers, because their truth could not be compromised. If Bida did take place in those events then the intentions were made clear to the Messengers immediately. This did not put doubt on their truthfulness in anyway. In fact, it vindicated their reliability. So, there could be no harm for Bida to take place in relation to such events too.

Further Explanation Of This Effect And Mention Of The Tablet Of Existence And Extinction

The Qur’anic Verses and the statements of the Imams (‘a) suggested that God had two Tablets (allegorical description of presentation). One of these was the Guarded Tablet (Lawh al-Mahfooz). All that happened in the Universe was recorded here in detail. No change could take place in its script.

The second one was called the Tablet of Existence and Extinction. This was subject to modifications because some events are linked to fulfilment of certain conditions. Therefore, if any of those conditions were altered then their results would also be modified.

Say for example, it was written in the Tablet of Existence and Extinction that a certain man would live up to an age of fifty years. Then if he did not do anything detrimental that could affect the duration of his life, his acts of compassion and charity could prolong the span of life from fifty to sixty or even seventy years. If on the other hand, he would show indifference, then his age could be reduced to forty years or even less. In the Guarded Tablet however, this result was accurately described.

There were few other examples of this type mentioned in the notes, which have been omitted here to save time and effort.

Definite And Indefinite Destiny

It has been identified that destiny was of two kinds. One was restricted and the other was unrestricted. The later was also called Ajlum Musamma. The conditional destiny changed with its associated restrictions. This could vary the outcome. However, with the unconditional or unrestricted destiny, no alterations could take place, as described in Surah Al-Fatir:

وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ وَلَا يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ ‎

“... And no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah” (35:11).

Similarly, the statement of Prophet Noah was recorded in the Qur’an as follows:

فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا

“Then I (Noah) said, Ask forgiveness of your Lord, surely He is the most Forgiving…” (71:10).

يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا

“He will send down upon you the cloud, pouring down abundance of rain” (71:11).

وَيُمْدِدْكُم بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارًا

“And help you with wealth and sons, and make for you gardens, and make for you rivers” (71:12).

The people however, due to their folly, had not acted upon his advice. So they were destroyed and eliminated from existence. This verified that if a nation would pay heed to His instructions, they could be saved from this eternal destruction.

In Surah Al-’Araf, God said:

وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْقُرَىٰ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ

“And if the people of the towns (kibbutz) had believed and guarded (against evil) We would certainly have opened up for them blessings from the heaven and the earth…” (7:96).

They however did not choose to obey. Therefore, they remained dispossessed. That was why it was mentioned in the Qur’an that if there were no cry for mercy from the people, then God would not care for them.

Answer To A Query

A question that arose here was that when a final decision was endorsed in the Guarded Tablet, then what was the purpose of placing it in the Tablet of existence and extinction, and then amending or changing it? This question could be answered in several ways.

As this command was related to the divine destiny and management of the universe, therefore, it would not be advisable for us to interfere with it. In fact, we could not understand the depth of this matter. Logically speaking, the ignorance of a matter does not invalidate its significance.

It could be said that knowledge of all things belonged to God. However, it was possible that by appointing Angels to make amendments or change in the Tablet of existence and extinction, God wanted to show His grace and love for His servants, and demonstrate how they could face good and bad effects of their behaviour even before the Day of Judgment, so that they could continue the process of retribution (of deeds).

It is possible that He just wanted to show to the people through His Messengers that good and bad actions could play a significant role in the correction and detriment of their acts respectively. In this manner they would be encouraged to perform good deeds with a sense of pleasure and try to avoid transgression, because everything that is mentioned in the Guarded Tablet is an outcome of their conduct.

It is equally possible that in view of the possibility of alterations in the Tablet of Existence and Extinction, people would hasten to supplicate more eagerly for redemption, which is itself an act of worship as explained in the Qur’an:

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ

“Supplicate to Me, I shall answer you, and those who show arrogance to supplicate will be sent to the Hell” (40:60).

In this Verse the phrase Ibadati refers to supplication. Moreover, charitable acts that help the poor and needy are the best of the deeds. Therefore, if this possibility of alteration and amendment was not available, then acts of charity would disappear and the people would suffer from a lack of God’s blessings that they continued to benefit from.

Narrations From The Sunni Texts In Support Of Bida

Allama Zamakhshari wrote in Al-Kashaf that an explanation of this Verse:

وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ وَلَا يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

“... And no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah” (35:11).

was that it had been mentioned in the Tablet of Existence and Extinction that if a certain person had just performed Hajj or strived in the way of God, then his life would be forty years, but if he combined the two tasks, then he would live for sixty years. Thus, if he would attain this target, then his life would actually extend. However, if he relied on one of the acts and his life did not exceed forty, then in fact, his life span had been reduced. On the basis of this fact, the Prophet of God declared that performing charitable acts enhanced one’s life and made cities to grow.”

Allama Baidhavi wrote in Anwar at-Tanzil that the process of extinction and survival was continuous in all things, as indicated by the wording of the Verse:

اللَّهُ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ

“Allah amplifies and straitens the means of subsistence for whom He pleases…” (13:26).

The same was true for life and death, love and animosity and faith and infidelity, as alterations did not occur in these events.

This view was stated by Umro Ibn Masud, a famous Sunni scholar. The believers of this doctrine cried and supplicated a lot in the presence of God, so that He would make them virtuous rather than a cruel and ill-fated person. This interpretation was narrated by Jaber Ibn Abdullah Ansari on the authority of the Prophet (S). He then copied the statement below: “This act of preservation or annihilation is on the subject of sustenance or trials and tribulations. Initially these matters are entered in the Tablet, and then these are deleted by charitable deeds or supplication. The whole purpose of this exercise is to invite people to the attendance of God, by encouraging (noble acts) among them.”

This was the same as the concept of Bida, which Shi’as believed in. The odd thing is that after mentioning all these facts in his exegesis, he wrote a strange note of disapproval saying that Rawafiz approved of Bida for God.

Allama Jalaluddin Suyuti wrote in Durr al-Manthur on the authority of Ibn Abbas, from Mustadrak of Hakim that he had said, “Fear and alarm cannot save you from the destiny, it is only supplication to God that can change the fate.”

Ibn Abbas, in his supplication used to say, “O, God, if You have counted me among the virtuous, then confirm me in that group, and if You have considered me among the ghastly then remove my name from that faction, as You can eliminate whatever You want, since You have the Supreme Knowledge (and authority).”

He also quoted Kaab’s discussion with ‘Umar, when he said to him, “If that Verse was not contained in the Qur’an, he would have told him all the incidents that would have occurred until the Day of Judgement.”

‘Umar asked Kaab to tell him about the Verse, and he read the Verse,

يَمْحُو اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيُثْبِتُ وَعِندَهُ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ

“Allah makes to pass away and establishes what He pleases, and with Him is the basis of the Book” (13:39).

These examples have amply clarified that the concept of Bida was a common one between both groups of Muslims.

For other references one could refer to Kitab an-Nihaya of Ibn Kathir and Anwar al-Lughat, part one under chapter ‘Ba’.