I said: Tell me about your number.

I said: Tell me about your number. He replied: We are twelve persons, same as we were around the Arsh of the Lord at the beginning of our creation.

The first of us is Muhammad, the middle of us is Muhammad and the last of us is Muhammad.[^5] In reply we will say: There is no contradiction between this tradition and the one that preceded it, because this tradition shows the unity of their essence and that they were created from one Noor and that they are one in knowledge and excellence as other traditional reports are also seen in this regard and they do not contradict the fact that some of them are superior to others due to some specialties of excellence, like we have traditional reports that vouch for the superiority of Amirul Momineen (as) over all the infallible Imams.

And it is one of those matters, the knowledge of which must be left for the Imams and it does not merit us to debate over…