Hadith of Twelve Caliphs: Difference between revisions

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Hadith of Twelve Caliphs is cited in ''[[Sahih al-Bukhari]]'' from [[Jabir b. Samura]] from the Prophet (s) as Twelve Amirs (i.e. rulers), Jabir said,

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]]''.

A hadith is also cited in sources of hadiths from [['Abd Allah b. Mas'ud]] according to which the caliphs or Imams after the Prophet (s) are 12 people: the same number as the that of Israelite heads or naqibs.

Ayatollah Safi has cited 52 chains of narrations of the hadith narrated by Jabir b. Samura. Some of these chains are repetitive in their first three or four narrators. Four people have narrated the hadith directly from 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud.

The author of ''Muntakhab al-athar'' collected and cited the hadith of Jabir b. Samura from some Sunni sources. He also cited the hadith narrated by 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud from the Prophet (s) from ''[[Musnad Ahmad]]''.  

[['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]], [[al-Saffah]], [[al-Mansur al-'Abbasi]], Jabir, Amin, Salam, Mahdi, and Amir al-'Asab.

Al-Suyuti holds that the Twelve Imams are: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, [['Ali (a)]], [[al-Hasan (a)]], Mu'awiya, [['Abd Allah b. al-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)|al-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 'Ayad 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.

* The material for this article is mainly taken from {{ia|[http://fa.wikishia.net/view/حدیث_دوازده_خلیفه حدیث دوازده خلیفه]}} in Farsi WikiShia.