Consideration of the Doctrine of Badā’ in the View of Khwāja Ṭūsī

Sulaymān b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī holds that Shi’as believed in the two doctrines of badā’ (alteration of the divine will) and taqīyya (dissimulation), writing that the Shi’a kept itself constantly victorious by propagating these two doctrines. The meaning of badā’ he attributes to the Shi’a implies the attribution of ignorance and the like to God. In response to this problem, Khwāja Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (597 AH/1201- 672 AH/1274) denies badā’ altogether. He believes that the hadith cited by ibn Jarīr is khabar al-wāḥid (hadith transmitted only by one person) which yields no knowledge (in beliefs) and no action (in jurisprudence). The hadith, he says, concerns the succession of Ismā’īl as an Imam after Imam al-Ṣādiq. According to this hadith, when the Imam saw an unpleasant action done by Ismā’īl, he left his succession in Imamate to Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓim. Khwāja’s reply has serious opponents and proponents among the Imāmīyya. In this paper, I adopt a descriptive-critical approach. Having surveyed the views of both proponents and opponents to Khwāja’s replies, I try to adjudicate and reconcile them. I finally show that Khwāja al-Ṭūsī has denied a notion of badā’ that was not maintained by any Imāmī.