We believe that one of Allah’s positive attributes is that He is just beyond all injustice (adil ghayr zalim). He does not treat His creatures without justice, nor does He rule them unfairly or cruelly, He rewards His obedient servants and punishes those who fall into sin. He does not compel His servants to do things, which are not within their capabilities, nor does He punish them for more than the sins they have committed.

We believe that He does not omit to do any good act, nor does He perform an evil one, because it is in His power to do every good act and the abstain from evil one. For, since He knows the excellence of good and the badness of evil, He is not constrained to leave what is good and to do what is evil. Again, since doing good cannot harm Him, there is no reason for Him not to do it. Moreover, since evil is not constrained upon Him, he is not forced to do evil. But Allah is Wise and His works must display His Wisdom, and they must be arranged in the best possible way.

Now, suppose that He treats a creature with cruelty or commits an evil, then it must be because of one of four reasons.

He is ignorant of the action, and does not know that it is evil;
He knows what He does, but He has been compelled to do it, and is unable to desist from it;
It is necessary for Him to do it, although He is aware that it is evil, but He is not compelled to do it;
He does it at His pleasure, without cause, or as an amusement, although He is neither ignorant of it, nor constrained to do it, and neither is it necessary for Him to do it. Each of these is impossibility for Allah, as each one entails a deficiency in Him. But He is absolute perfection; therefore we must say that He is glorified from oppression and from doing what is evil.

Nevertheless, there are Muslims who say that Allah can do evil. They say that Allah can punish the obedient and bring the evildoers and the unbelievers into paradise. They also say that Allah can order His servants to perform actions, which are beyond their capabilities and endurance, and at the same time, that He can punish them for not doing those things. In short, they say that Allah can be an oppressor, can do what is error, can deceive His servants, and do things, which are without interest, purpose of benefit because He is not asked about that which He has done, but they will be asked.

Qur’an (21:23)
Let it be known that this is blasphemy concerning Allah for He has said in His Book, the Qur’an:
Allah does not desire injustice for (His) servants.
Qur’an (40:31)
and Allah does not love corruption. Qur’an (2:205)
and We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in jest.
Qur’an (21:16)
and I have not created the jinn and mankind except to serve Me.
Qur’an (51:56)
and He has said similar things in other verses.
Glory be to Thee who did not create without aim.
Qur’an (3:190)

Doctrine of the Commands of Allah

We believe that Allah does not command His servants without there being evidence for the command, nor does He require them to do that which they cannot endure or which they do not understand, because it would be an injustice to give a command to somebody who is unable to do it or who has not been warned even though he had previously carried out his duties. However, somebody who is ignorant and has failed to carry out his obligations to Allah is in error for his omission and he will be punished, for it is incumbent on all mankind to learn the necessary duties of hi din.

We believe that Allah ahs commanded his servants and given them laws for all that is in their interest to know, and that He guides them to the ways of everlasting goodness and prosperity, and that He similarly makes them tremble before that which is against their interests and that which is harmful to them. This is an example of His Grace and Mercy (lutf wa rahmah) towards His servants, who are unaware of most of what is in their interest, and do not know what is harmful for them. Allah is the Beneficent, the Merciful in His Essence. His Mercy and His grace are of His Absolute Perfection and One with His Essence, and it is impossible for them to be separated from him. The disobedience does not cause Him to with hold his Mercy and Grace from His Creatures.

Doctrine of al-qada’ (predetermination) and al-qadar (Divine Decree)

The sect of the Mujabbirah maintained that Allah was entirely responsible for the actions of His creatures; that He forced them to do evil and then punished them for it, and forced them to do good and then rewarded them for it. They maintained that the actions of the people were really His actions, but that they were figuratively attributed to people because humans are the locus of Allah’s activity. The reason for this view was that Mujjabbirah denied natural causes (as-sababiyyah at-tabi’yyah) between things and said that Allah was the real cause (as-sabab al-haqiqi), there being no other cases besides Him.

They denied natural causes between things because they supposed that this followed from the necessity of believing that Allah is the Creator without any partner. But one who has made such a claim has in truth attributed injustice to Allah. Another Sect, the Mufawwidah, maintained that Allah had given full power to His creatures for their actions, and that the power, foreordaining and decree of Allah has no part to play. The reason they held this belief because they considered that the attributing imperfection to Him, and that all existing things have particular causes (asbab al-khasah), and that this can be traced back to the cause of causes, the first cause, which is Allah. However, those who made this claim had separated Allah from His Power, and had given Him partners in His creation.

Now our belief in this matter follows the teachings of our Imams, that the reality is between these two extremes, a middle way between the two opinions, something which cannot be understood by these disputants in theology (ahl al-kalam) who have not gone to one extreme, some to the other. Knowledge and Philosophy were unable to clarify this matter until many centuries, so it is not surprising that those who are not familiar with the wisdoms of our Imams (A.S) and their sayings suppose that our belief comes from and investigation of the most recent western philosophers, whereas the truth is that our Imams were ahead of them by ten centuries in this matter. Imam Sadiq (A.S) truly said in clarifying the middle way that :

There is no compulsion (jabr) (from Allah), nor is there absolute delegation of power (tawfid) (from Allah to man), but the real position is between the two extremes.

What marvelous significance lies in this saying, and how exact is its meaning! It points out that our actions are, from one angle, really our own actions, and we are the natural cause so that they are under our control and subject to our free choice; and from another angle they are decreed by Allah and are subject to His power, because it is He Who gives existence. He does not compel us in our actions in such a way that He wrongs us by punishing us for evil deeds, for we have the power and the choice in what we do. But He has not delegated to us the creation of our actions so that they become beyond His power, for to Him belongs Creation, Judgement and Command. He is the Powerful over all things, and He has complete authority over people. For, after all, our beliefs is that our predetermination (qada’) and Divine decree (qadar) are one of the secrets of Allah, and if someone can understand them as they should be understood, without going to either of the extremes, he is correct. Otherwise, it is not necessary for him to force himself to understand them exactly, for he may then be lead astray, and his belief may be corrupted . it is one of the most difficult topics in philosophy, which can only be understood by a few people, and because of this many theologians (mutakalimun) have been led astray. The obligations to arrive at an understanding of this matter is an obligation which is too great for the understanding of this matter is an obligation which is too great for the understanding of an ordinary man. It is enough for someone to believe in this in a general way following the sayings of our Imam (A.S): that is a reality between the two extremes that is that there is neither compulsion nor absolute free will. Anyway, this matter is not one in which it is necessary to have faith based on investigation and profound thinking.

Doctrine of Bada

The meaning of Bada’ for a man is this: the appearance (bada’ literally means ‘appearance) of an idea about some action, which the man did not have previously, in such a way that it changes its intention to do that action. That is to say that something happens which alters his understanding and knowledge about that action, so that he conceives the intention of leaving the work he had previously intended to do it. This is du to man’s ignorance concerning what is of benefit to him, and because he comes to regret doing or having to do what he had intended to do.

Bada’ in this sense is impossible for Allah, because ignorance and imperfection are the cause of it, and this is impossible for Allah. The Imamites do not believe in this. Imam Sadiq (A.S) said: Someone who supposes that Bada’ occurs to Allah about some matter, causing Him to regret, is considered by us to be an unbeliever in Allah (Kafir).

And he also said:

I will keep at a distance from me someone who supposes that Bada’ occurs to Allah about some matter which He had not realizes previously. Some traditions have been related from our Imams which have caused people to suppose that we believe in Bada’ in the sense described above. For example, Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said:

There was no bada’ for Allah like the bada’ in the case of my son.

Because of such traditions, some writers of certain Islamic sect have accused the Imamites of belief in bada’, attacking our group and the way of the Household of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt), and using this supposed belief to denounce the shi’a.

The correct aspect of this question is according to what Allah revealed in his book:

Allah blots out, and He establishes whatsoever He will; and with Him is the Essence of the Book.

(Quran 13:39)

And the meaning of this is that Allah makes something appear on the tongue of the Prophet or his wali or in some other way according to the situation because of some benefit which call for this revelation, than he abolishes that revelation so that it becomes other than what it was before, although Allah knew about this from the beginning. We can see an example of this in the incident of Isma’l when his father Ibrahim saw in his dream that he was slaughtering his son. The meaning of the saying of Imam Sadiq (A.S) is that Allah has not revealed any matter as He had done in the case of Ismai’l (the son of Imam Sadiq), by taking his life before He took his father’s. This was so that people would understand that Ismai’l was not the Imam, although it had appeared in the situation as if he were, because he was the eldest son.

And similar to this meaning of bada’ is the abrogation of previous shara’i (pl. Of Shar’iah) by the arrival of Shar’iah of our Prophet (S.A) and even the abrogation of some of the commandments which were brought by Muhammad (S.A)

Doctrine of Religious Ordinances

We believe that Allah has sent His ordinances in the interest of His servants; that whatever is greatly to our advantage He has made incumbent upon us (wajib); that whatever is to our disadvantage He has forbidden to us (haram): Whatever is to our advantage, but not greatly so, He has made Mustahabb, and has recommended us to do it. And this is of His justice and Mercy.

It is clear that Allah must give His commandments to cover any eventuality, and that nothing can be found which is outside the scope of His commandments, although we may not be in the position to understand this.

We also say that it is impossible for Him to order something of which a part is evil, or to prohibit something of which a part is good. But some Muslims say that evil is what Allah prohibits, and good is what He commands, and that therefore there is no intrinsic good or evil in the acts themselves.

This is not in accord with reason, however, as the same people also say that Allah can do things, which are evil; thus he can order that what include evil and prohibit what includes good. It has previously been mentioned that this opinion is erroneous, because it requires that Allah is ignorant and unable to do certain things; far be He glorified exalted above what they say!

In shot, the correct belief is that there is neither interest nor benefit to Allah in His Commandment’s to us, but that the interest and benefit is entirely for ourselves. It is impossible for Allah to command what is without interest or benefit or to forbid that contains no evil, because none of His laws are without aim, and He has no need of His servants.