Imamat and Bada: Analysis of a Hadith

The present paper is concerned with a hdith on the issue of Bada: “Allah never had Bada in anything like he had in the case of Ismail”. This hadith has a firm relation to an exclusive belief to the Shia, i.e. Bada. An investigation of the chain of documents suggests that the tradition is mostly seen in Imami sources with a mursal or maqtu chain. Zaid Nursi’s Asl is the only reliable document but some rijal scholars have rejected his own reliability. Since Ibn Abi Umayr has quoted from Nursi’s Asl, Imami Shia have accepted it. No word in this hadith suggests the Imamat of Ismail [son of Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s)]. But due to Zaidi’s intentional interpretation of the hadith and using this interpretation by other Islamic sects, it has historically been a matter of dispute. The content analysis of the hadith suggests the fact that this tradition has no relation to the Imamat of Ismail and even Ismailis themselves did not pay much attention to it for the contradiction between this hadith and the principles of their faith.