ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Selected Narrations about the Twelfth Imam volume 1 Conclusion It is necessary for the researcher on the traditions of the twelve Imams (a.s.) to know what Tabaraani has written in his al-Mo’jam al-Kabeer. He writes, ‘…Shafi al-Asbahi narrates that I heard Abdullah Ibn Umar say that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) said, ‘There will be twelve caliphs after me. (The first amongst them is) the caliph Abu Bakr al-Siddique.

He will not live after me but less. (He will be followed by) the chief of my tribe, who will live in a praiseworthy manner and die as a martyr. He (s.a.w.a.) was asked, ‘Who is he, O Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.)?’ He (s.a.w.a.) replied, ‘Umar Ibn al-Khattaab.’ Then he (s.a.w.a.) turned to Usman and prophesied, ‘Soon the people will ask you to remove the shirt with which Allah, Mighty and Blessed be He, has clothed you.

I swear by the One in Whose hand is my life, if you remove it, you will never enter paradise till a camel passes through the eye of the needle.’[^1] He has brought the same narration with minor changes in another place.[^2] I say: Know that we will certainly not accept the one who argues with this additional false attribution to the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) in the guise of explaining these traditions and thereby, attempting to legally establish the caliphate of the first three with documentary evidence.

He (Tabarani) conveniently forgot that the Ahle Sunnah are unanimous that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) has not appointed the three as his caliphs and there is no document to prove that.

Undoubtedly, this is the fabrication of the Ottoman kings and their attempts to hide the evils and distortions of Usman in Islam, which were even repudiated by the likes of Talha, Ayesha and Ammaar (r.a.) in the most severe manner possible, thereby opening the door of mischief and civil war amongst the Muslims and leading to a great unrest among the Muslims and their demanding from Usman to apply his deeds and laws as per the Islamic Shariah.

But Usman refused to relent due to his fiscal and governmental policies, finally resulting in his murder. For further explanations concerning the additional and concocted part of this tradition, we shall bring forth the discussion from two aspects: The chain of narrators of this tradition and Text of the tradition (a) Chain of narrators: Among the narrators of this tradition, is a person called as Abdullah Ibn Saaleh (exp. 222 A.H.).