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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 9) The Change in Allah's Will Ahlul-Bayt (AS) stated that from the time of creation of the "will" for a specific action until the moment of execution (Imdhaa), Allah may withdraw His permission for the occurrence of that action and may cancel the created "will" and change the sequence altogether. This concept is called "al-Badaa" (initiating/originating a new thing).

📌This change only occurs to the created information (i.e., the five steps mentioned earlier) while there is no change in His Eternal Knowledge/His Essence. Note that Badaa is not limited to what was explained above. Any creation of Allah at any time is due to His Badaa since neither the creation nor the will of Allah about it was eternal, and Allah initiated to create it from non-existence. Thus, Allah has made Badaa in everything (See the tradition by Imam al-Ridha (AS) below).

Moreover, when Allah changes a will, it actually means He removes (Mahw) the previous will and then He originates a new will just as He originated the previous will. Therefore, Allah's creation is entirely Badaa. As the Sunnis consider the will of Allah eternal and claim it to be His Essence, they cannot admit any change in it. This is while, numerous verses in Quran prove that Allah's hands are open to originate or change anything in His creation.

Once Ma'mun, one of the Abbasid Caliphs, prepared a discussion between Imam al-Ridha (AS) and Sulaiman al-Maruzi who was the greatest theologian (Mutakallim) of Khurasan. Sulaiman used to believe that the will of Allah and His intention are eternal (not created) and that Allah never initiates any change in His will. Below is but a small part of the interesting discussion between Imam al-Ridha (AS) and Sulaiman in the presence of Ma'mun. Al-Hasan Ibn Muhammad al-Nufili narrated: ...

Imam Ridha (AS) said: "Why did you deny al-Badaa, O Sulaiman, while Allah, the Glorious, states, 'But does not man call to mind that We created him before, and he was nothing? (19:67)', and the Glorious states, 'It is He Who initiates the creation, then He returns it (30:27)', and He states, 'The Originator of the heavens and the earth (2:117; 6:101)', and the Glorious states, 'He increases in the creation what He wills (35:1)'.

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