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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam: Faith, Practice & History Lesson 17: Twelve Caliphs Or Imams The Hadith on Twelve Imams After studying about the leadership of Imam ‘Ali and briefly reviewing the khilāfat of Saqifah, it is now advisable to refer to several parts of the 77th chapter of Yanābi‘u ’l-Mawaddah of a famous Sunni scholar al-Hāfiz Sulaymān al-Qundūzi al-Hanafi (d. 1294AH/1877AD).

Al-Qundūzi first quotes a well known hadīth of the Prophet that: “There will be twelve caliphs, all from the Quraysh.” This hadīth has been quoted by many books of ahadith including that of Bukhāri, al-Muslim, Abu Dāwud and at-Tirmidhi.

Then al-Qundūzi quotes many traditions to the effect that the Prophet said, “I, ‘Ali, Hasan, Husayn and nine of the descendants of Husayn are pure and sinless.” Then the author quotes that the Prophet said to Imam Husayn bin ‘Ali: “You are a chief, brother of a chief; you are an Imam, son of an Imam, brother of an Imam; you are Proof (of Allah), son of a Proof (of Allah), brother of a Proof (of Allah), and father of nine Proofs (of Allah), the ninth of whom will be al-Mahdi.” After quoting many such traditions, he writes: “Some scholars have said that the traditions (which show that the caliphs after the Prophet would be twelve) are well known, from many chains of narration.

Now, with the passage of time and through historical events, we know that in this hadīth the Prophet has referred to the Twelve Imams from his family (Ahlu ’l-bayt) and descendants, because: “This hadīth cannot apply to the four al-khulafā’u ’r-rāshidun from among his companions, as they were less than twelve.

“And it cannot apply to the caliphs from the tribe of Umayyad, because (a) they were more than twelve; (b) all of them were tyrants and unjust (except ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdi ’l-‘Azīz); and (c) they were not from the Banu Hāshim as the Prophet has said in a hadīth that `all of them will be from the Banu Hāshim'...

“And it cannot apply to the caliphs from the ‘Abbāsids, because (a) they were more than twelve; and (b) they did not comply with (the demands of) the verse Say, `I do not ask of you any recompense for it except the love for (my) near relatives' (42:23) , nor with the tradition of the Mantle.