alteration of the divine will [bada]
Editorial introduction
A king who appoints a governor with full authority can still remove him; to deny it, the Báb says, would be a lie. With that homely example he opens the hard question of badá, the alteration of the divine will. Believers who waited for a seventh Imam were told, ‘I am that one, but badá occurred’; promises that seemed fixed predictions turned out to hinge on conditions no one had noticed. Bahá’u’lláh reads such disappointments as a trial that separates light from darkness, and he asks the perplexed to suspect their own understanding before they accuse the promise. The Báb is careful to add that God’s alteration is nothing like a creature’s: ours comes from weakness, His from sovereign power, and the Eternal Essence never changes at all. Jonah, sulking under his withered vine because Nineveh repented and was spared, shows how mercy itself can wound a person invested in an expected outcome [1]. To acknowledge this freedom, the Báb says, is the highest worship. The subject deepens into the seven stages by which the divine will descends into a created thing, and then into the tests and trials and the sacrifice and suffering through which a faith learns to hope without dictating the shape of fulfilment.
A king appointeth someone as governor with authority over all affairs, as can be seen in the case of certain governors who rule over lands on behalf of the king with full authority. Nevertheless, is the king able to remove them or not? If thou deniest this, thou art a liar, for it is evident that he is able.
It is among the established matters in the Cause of God that they said to Imam Ja'far-i-Sadiq that "we were awaiting the seventh Imam and were saying 'their seventh is their Qa'im' - how is it that this did not come to pass?" He replied "I am that seventh one, but bada occurred." In brief, I told him that if bada was permissible regarding the Qa'im-hood of Imam Ja'far-i-Sadiq, now if appropriate action is not taken, bada is the easiest of matters.
O God, Thou didst intend by the mention of the Mother of the Book the word Bada', and by it the people worship through the word Baha, and fear the decree of fate. I, in my station before Thee, acknowledge to Thee the Bada' which Thou didst create before the decree, however Thou willeth, and whenever Thou willeth after its execution.
Concerning their Qa'imiyyat and Bada', it is related in Biharu'l-Anvar from 'Uthman Thuri that Sadiq said: "This matter was concerning me, meaning it was the divine Will that I should arise and fill the earth with justice and equity, but Bada' occurred." Likewise, Majlisi relates in Bihar from Sadiq who said: "The time for this matter was in the year 140, but when you were informed of it, you disclosed it; therefore God delayed that time." He also relates that Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: "O Aba Ishaq, this matter was concerning me, but its time was delayed."
However, God's alteration is immeseaurably exalted above any association with the alteration of His creatures. For the creature's alteration is due to their powerlessness, whereas God's alteration is out of supreme power.
… But this divine alteration is naught but the alteration of the Will, inasmuch as the Essence of the Eternity hath always been, and will continue forever to be, unchanged. Manifestation and concealment are the attributes of the Will, and firstness and lastness are the schemes of His Wish.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
God is not worshipped through anything [as he is] through [belief in] bada' because bada' is recognition of his power to do what He willeth. If one worships God through all imaginable means -- should he acknowledge belief (i'tiraf) in bada' it is still a greater act of worship than everything else he has done.
These seven stages are Will (mashiyyat), Purpose (iradih), predestination (qadar), fate (qada'), permission (idhn), fixed time (ajal), and the book (kitab).[1] The first stage of anything for which the "thingness" of existence is not a condition is the Will. The moment thingness is attached to it, it becometh Purpose, and this moment is accompanied by predestination. The manifestation of these three stages is fate. In this regard,[2] it is incumbent upon all creatures to acknowledge the spontaneity (bada' ) of God,[3] lauded and exalted be He, for His will cannot be altered after the stage of fate; it is fixed.[4] The decrees of permission, fixed time, and the book are subsequent to execution (imda').
That which I set forth in explanation of the letter Ha was to extol the Tree of Baha, for the supporters of fate (qada') recognize the decree of spontaneity (bada') in the Crimson Pillar. It, in truth, is the secret of creation, for the element of fire in the realm of origination (ibda') can only exist through the element of earth. This is because with the exception of God, nothing can subsist through itself. All things are composite.
For thought and discussion