ever, Gods predetermination and His knowledge about things since time eternal neither interferes with nor contradicts His omnipotence over them upon their cre- ation; The reason is that the possible continues to be dependent for its existence upon its attachment to the will of God, and this is designated as free will or volition. Con- sequently, if God s will attaches to it, it comes into existence; otherwise, not. Divine knowledge is related to things as they are, as a result of being conditional on divine will, for the uncovering· of a thing does not add anything to its existence. Thus, if existence is conditional upon the will of God, the Exalted, the knowledge related to that thing is in accordance with this state, or else the knowledge would not be in any respect a knowledge about that thing revealing for Him its reality. Accordingly, the meaning of Gods predetermination of things and of His decree regarding them is as follows: All [possible] things are apportioned in divine knowledge from eternity according to what they would be from the point of view that their existence is condi- tional upon divine will being attached to them, depending upon what is beneficial and what is the cause of corruption for them, which vary in accordance with varying conditions {in which things would come into being], but which are encompassed by divine knowledge.
The Jewish Position Regarding Gods Omnipotence
The Jews maintain that since things have been recorded by the pen of destiny and decrees since eternity, it would be impossible for divine will to encompass anything else. It is for this reason that they say that Gods hands are shackled in seizing, un- folding, taking, and giving, because the pen of destiny has fixed these already and there is no possibility of changing them.٢ It is astonishing that they have persisted in dispossessing God of omnipotence, but have not maintained such a view of human beings, in spite of the fact that the essential prerequisite in maintaining such abelief is one and the same, since eternal knowledge is related to the divine sanctions as well as to human actions.
The Place of Modification (bada) in the Shlite Doctrine
The bada, (modification) that the Imamite Shiites speak about occurs only in the alterable decree (al-qada, ghayr al-ma/:ltum). As for the unalterable decree, there does not occur in it any alteration, but divine will shall inevitably be attached to the thing~ that are related to divine decrees. To explain this, we shall examine the three kinds of divine decree.
First, we have the divine decree about which God informed none of His creatures, and the guarded knowledge He has kept exclusively to Himself. Certainly, bada,does not occur in this kind of decree. Rather, according to the traditions related on the authority of the Imams, bada, originates from this knowledge.
In his book al- cUyun, al-Shaykh al-Saduq relates a tradition he traces back to al-. ijasan b. Mul)ammad a\-Nawfali, who heard the Imam al-Riqa say to Sulayman al- Marzawi: