Hadith al-Wasiyya

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Hadith al-Wasiyya
SubjectTwelve Mahdis
Issued byProphet Muhammad (s)
Validity of the chain of transmissionWeak
Shi'a sourcesKitab al-Ghayba (al-Tusi)


Ḥadīth al-Waṣiyya (Arabic: حَدیث الوَصیَّت) lit. Hadith of succession is a hadith about twelve Mahdis, who succeed Imam al-Mahdi (a). The hadith is cited in the book al-Ghayba by al-Shaykh al-Tusi. Ahmad al-Hassan, the leader of Ansar al-Mahdi, calls himself a mediated child of Imam al-Mahdi (a) and the first of the twelve succeeding Mahdis by an appeal to this hadith.

Shiite scholars reject Ahmad al-Hassan’s interpretation of the hadith, maintaining that it is incompatible with the widely accepted and authentic Shiite hadiths. Some researchers have studied the chain of transmission and content of the hadith and found it flawed. For instance, the chain of its transmission is said to be weak. Moreover, it is in contradiction with many hadiths in which the Prophet’s successors are restricted to the Twelve Imams.

Introduction and Content of the Hadith

Hadith al-Wasiyya is a hadith cited by al-Shaykh al-Tusi in his book al-Ghayba as quoted from the Prophet (s).[1]

In Hadith al-Wasiyya, the Prophet (s) tells Imam 'Ali (a) that there will be Twelve Imams after him and then lists the names of the Twelve Shiite Imams. After this, the Prophet (s) says twelve Mahdis will succeed the Twelfth Imam (a) after his demise.[2] Here is the final part of the hadith: “After them [the Twelve Imams], there will be twelve Mahdis. When the Twelfth Imam passes away, he will be succeeded by his son, who is the first close person. He has three names: one is my name, the other is my father’s name; that is, 'Abd Allah and Ahmad, and his third name is Mahdi, and he is the first believer.”[3] The hadith is the main evidence used by Ahmad al-Hassan, the leader of Ansar al-Mahdi, to prove the existence of twelve Mahdis after the twelve Imams.[4] By making recourse to this hadith, he claims that he is the first Mahdi and Imam al-Mahdi’s son.[5]

Shiite scholars believe that the chain of transmission of this hadith is not reliable. Moreover, they reject Ahmad al-Hassan’s interpretation of the hadith.[6]

Ahmad al-Hassan’s Recourses to the Hadith

By making an appeal to Hadith al-Wasiyya, Ahmad al-Hassan says that there will be twelve Mahdis after Imam al-Mahdi (a), claiming that he is the first of those Mahdis.[7] In addition, he cites the term “his son” (ibnih) in the hadith to argue that he is a mediated son of Imam al-Mahdi (a).[8]

Accordingly, he claims that he will play a role before Imam al-Mahdi’s reappearance, during his government, and afterwards.[9]

Views of Shiite Scholars

Shiite scholars believe that Hadith al-Wasiyya is incompatible with well-known authentic hadiths. They include al-Tabrisi (a fifth/eleventh-century Quranic exegete), al-Irbili (a seventh/thirteenth-century scholar of hadith), al-'Allama al-Majlisi, and al-Hurr al-'Amili (an eleventh/seventeenth-century scholar of hadith).[10]

Moreover, al-Tabrisi and al-Irbili believe that this hadith is incompatible with authentic hadiths to the effect that there will be no other government after Imam al-Mahdi’s.[11]

Problems with Hadith al-Wasiyya

Other objections have also been raised to any recourse to Hadith al-Wasiyya:

  • This is khabar al-wahid (hadith transmitted by one person), which just yields probabilistic knowledge, and thus, it cannot be deployed to established beliefs.[12]
  • According to this hadith, the Prophet’s successors will be 24, which is at odds with the well-established restriction of his successors to 12.[13]
  • It contradicts the hadiths according to which Imam al-Mahdi (a) is the final successor (khatam al-awsiya'). Moreover, it is incompatible with several hadiths about raj'a (return).[14]
  • The chain of transmission of this hadith is weak: its transmitters are unreliable or unknown. So, it cannot pose a challenge for authentic hadiths.[15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, p. 150-151.
  2. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, p. 150-151.
  3. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, p. 150.
  4. ↑ Mujtahid Sīstānī, Lawḥ wa qalam, p. 13
  5. ↑ Muḥammadī Hūshyār, Darsnāma-yi naqd wa barrasī-yi jaryān-i ʾAḥmad al-ḥasan al-baṣrī, p. 37-39.
  6. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 53, p. 149-150; Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ayqāẓ man al-hajʿa, p. 368.
  7. ↑ Ahmad al-Hasan al-Jawāb al-munīr, vol. 1, p. 38.
  8. ↑ Muḥammadī Hūshyār, Darsnāma-yi naqd wa barrasī-yi jaryān-i ʾAḥmad al-ḥasan al-baṣrī, p. 37-39.
  9. ↑ Muḥammadī Hūshyār, Darsnāma-yi naqd wa barrasī-yi jaryān-i ʾAḥmad al-ḥasan al-baṣrī, p. 37-39.
  10. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, vol. 2, p. 295; Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 467; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 53, p. 150; Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ayqāẓ man al-hajʿa, p. 368; Hurr al-ʿĀmilī, Al-Fawāʾid al-Ṭūsiyya, p. 115.
  11. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, vol. 2, p. 295; Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 467; Nabāṭī Bayāḍī, al-Ṣiraṭ al-mustaqīm, vol. 2, p. 186.
  12. ↑ ʾĀl Muḥsin, al-Radd al-qāṣim, p. 36.
  13. ↑ ʾĀl muḥsin, al-Radd al-qāṣim, p. 36; Mujtahid Sīstānī, Lawḥ wa qalam, p. 129.
  14. ↑ Shahbāziyān, Rah-i ʾafsāna, p. 138; Muḥammadī Hūshyār, Darsnāma-yi naqd wa barrasī-yi jaryān-i ʾAḥmad al-ḥasan al-baṣrī, p. 150.
  15. ↑ Mujtahid Sīstānī, Lawḥ wa qalam, p. 59.

References

  • Ahmad al-Hasan. Al-Jawāb al-munīr ʿibr al-ʾathīr. [n.p], ʾIṣdārāt ʾanṣār al-Imam al-Mahdī, [n.d].
  • ʾĀl muḥsin, ʿAlī. Al-Radd al-qāṣim. Najaf: Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Takhaṣṣuṣīyya li l-Imām al-Mahdī, 1434 AH.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Ayqāẓ man al-hajʿa bi l-burhān ʿala l-rajʿa. Edited by Ḥāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī. Translated to Farsi by ʾAḥmad Jannatī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Nawīd, 1362 SH.
  • Hurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan. Al-Fawāʾid al-Ṭūsiyya. Edited by Mahdī Lājiwardī. Qom: Maṭbaʿat al-ʿIlmiyya, 1403 AH.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Ithbāt al-hudāt bi l-nuṣūṣ wa l-muʿjizat. Edited by ʿAlaʾ l-din ʾAʿlamī. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1425 AH.
  • Irbilī, ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-. Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma. Tabriz: Maktabat Banī Hāshimī, 1381 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. 2nd edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Muḥammadī Hūshyār, ʿAlī. Darsnāma-yi naqd wa barrasī-yi jaryān-i ʾAḥmad al-ḥasan al-baṣrī. Qom: Intishārāt-i tawallā, 1396 SH.
  • Mujtahid Sīstānī, Mahdī. Lawḥ wa qalam: barrasī-yi riwāyat-i mowsūm bi waṣīyyat dar kitāb-i al-Ghayba Shaykh Tusi. Qom: Dār al-Tafsīr, [n.d].
  • Nabāṭī Bayāḍī, ʿAlī b. Yunus. Al-Ṣiraṭ al-mustaqīm ila mustaḥaqi al-taqdīm. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Bihbūdī. Qom: 1384.
  • Shahbāziyān, Muḥammad. Rah-i ʾafsāna. Qom: Markaz-i Takhaṣṣuṣī-yi Mahdawīyyat, 1396 SH.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1417 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Ghayba. Edited by ʿIbād Allāh Tihrānī and ʿAlī Aḥmad Nāṣiḥ. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1411 AH.
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