The question that arises now is, how many Imams?

The question that arises now is, how many Imams? Who are the rightful Imams? Who are the Imams who are vested with authority? Who are the rightful Imams? Let us look into Imams: let us see if there are any ahadith (traditions of the Prophet) regarding the number of Imams who will succeed the prophets.

A number of ahadith (traditions) are found in the books of Shias, and surprisingly enough in the books of Sunni brothers too, that say that the Holy Prophet (sawa) had said that there would be twelve Khulafa () after him. This hadith matches the belief of the Ithna Ashari Shias, but does not match the belief of the Sunni brothers. Yet, at least a few ahadith…