In addition...

In addition, among the Umayyid there are people like Yazid and among the Abbasids, people like Mansur Dawaniq, Harun al-Rashid, the oppression, arrogance and crimes of whom no one can deny and it is not possible that they be considered to be the caliphs of the Prophet and among the honor of Islam. No matter how much we simplify the criteria, they clearly do not include them. And beyond these, the number twelve only can apply to the Shi’ites.

It is better that we now turn to a famous scholar, Sulayman ibn Abraham Qaduzi Hanafi in Yanabi‘a al-Muwa-dat . “Some of the scholars have said that, ‘The Tradition which mentions the rule of the caliphs after the Prophet are twelve people is famous and it has been recorded in many places.

That which we can surmise is that, after the passing of time, what the Prophet of God was referring to was twelve successors from the Ahlul Bayt and his family because it is not possible that this Tradition refer to the first caliphs because they are only four people and it does not conform to the Umayyids because they were more than twelve people and all of them, other than Amr ibn Abdal Aziz were oppressors and also, they were not from the Bani Hashim and the Holy Prophet said, “All twelve are from the Bani Hashim.” When Abdal Malik ibn Umar records from Jabir ibn Sahrah and how the Prophet quietly said who they were from, he bore witness to what he said because some people were not happy about the caliphate of the Bani Hashim and the Tradition does not conform to the Bani Abbas, either, because they were more than twelve people and beyond this, they did not conform to the verse: “No reward do I ask of you except the love of those near of kin...

“(42:23) Thus, the Tradition only can relate to the twelve Imams of the Ahlul Bayt and the family of the Prophet. It refers to those whose knowledge is higher than that of any others, whose piety is unquestioned and from all points of view, are more knowledgeable and who gained their knowledge from the Prophet of Islam. That which confirms this view is the Tradition of Thaqalayn and many other Traditions which have come from the Prophet. ( Yanabi ’al -Muwadat , p. 446).