Hadith of Twelve Caliphs: Difference between revisions

  | priority =

  | quality =

  | links =1

  | categories =1

  | navbox =1

  | redirects=1

==The Text of the Hadith==

The hadith known as that of the Twelve Caliphs has been narrated by different narrators of hadiths with different wordings, although they all have one and the same content. The content of the hadith is that after the Prophet Muhammad (s), twelve people will be his successors. In different versions of this hadith, words such as “khalifa” (caliph), “amir” (ruler), “naqib” (head), and “imam” are used.

Hadith of Twelve Caliphs is cited in ''[[Sahih al-Bukhari]]'' from [[Jabir b. Samara]] from the Prophet (s) as Twelve Amirs (i.e. rulers): Jabir said: “I heard the Prophet (s) say: there will be Twelve Amirs (rulers), and then he said a word that I did not hear, but my father said that the Prophet (s) had said: they are all from Quraysh”.

This hadith is also cited in ''[[Sahih Muslim]]'' with a slight variation as Twelve Caliphs. According to this book, the Prophet (s) said: “‘Islam will always be respected as long as the Twelve Caliphs rule the Muslims’. He then said something that I did not hear, so I asked my father what the Prophet (s) said. He said that the Prophet (s) said: ‘they are all from Quraysh’”. This hadith is also cited in ''[[Sunan Abi Dawud]]'' and ''[[Sunan al-Tirmidhi]]''.

The author of ''Muntakhab al-athar'' collected and cited the hadith of Jabir b. Samara from some Sunni sources.

 

He also cited the hadith narrated by 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud from the Prophet (s) from ''[[Musnad Ahmad]]''.

* [[Al-Suyuti]] in his ''Tarikh al-khulafa'' (A history of Cliphs).

The hadith itself does not tell us who the twelve caliphs are. Some Sunni scholars attempted to determine the instances of these twelve caliphs.

[['Abd Allah b. 'Umar]] is quoted as saying that the Twelve Imams are [[Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa]], [['Umar b. al-Khattab]], [['Uthman b. 'Affan]], [[Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan]], [[Yazid b. Mu'awiya]], [[Saffah]], [[Mansur al-'Abbasi]], Jabir, Amin, Salam, Mahdi, and Amir al-'Asab.

Al-Suyuti holds that the Twelve Imams are: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, [['Ali b. Abi Talib]], [[Hasan b. 'Ali]], Mu'awiya, [['Abd Allah b. Zubayr]], and [['Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz]]. He then speculated that two other caliphs probably are [[al-Muhtadi al-'Abbasi]] and al-Zahir, both of whom were [[Abbasid]] Caliphs, since they were, according to al-Suyuti, righteous people. He then adds that the two other caliphs remain that we should wait for: one of them is [[Imam al-Mahdi (a)|Mahdi]] who is one of the Prophet’s (s) [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]], and the other he does not mention.

[[Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani]] agrees with Qadi 'Ayyad that the twelve caliphs are: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, 'Ali (a), Mu'awiya, Yazid, [['Abd al-Malik b. Marwan]], [[Walid b. 'Abd al-Malik]], [[Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik]], [[Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik]], [[Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik]], and [[Walid b. Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik]].

[[Al-Qunduzi al-Hanafi]] cited the hadith and then said that a close look into hadiths according to which the caliphs after the Prophet (s) are twelve reveals that by those twelve caliphs he meant the [[Twelve Imams]] from his own Ahl a-Bayt (a). He holds that the hadith does not refer to the [[Rashidun Caliphs]] since their number is smaller than twelve. It does not refer to [[Umayyad]] or Abbasid kings either, since their number is greater than twelve. Moreover, some of them were vicious and unjust people, and were not committed to Islamic rulings, except [['Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz]]. What is more, Banu Umayya were not from [[Banu Hashim]], but the Prophet (s), according to 'Abd al-Malik’s narration from Jabir, said that they are all from Banu Hashim. So the hadith can only refer to the Twelve Imams from the Prophet’s (s) Ahl al-Bayt (a), since they were the most knowledgeable as well as the most pious people of their time, and were superior to others with respect to their acts and genealogy. Most important of all, they had inherited their knowledge from their ancestor, the Prophet Muhammad (s). Al-Qunduzi also appeals to hadiths, such as [[Hadith al-Thiqlayn]], to support his view.