Hadith of the Twelve Successors

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Part of a series on Twelver Shi'a Islam The Twelve Imams Ali · Hasan · Husayn al-Sajjad · al-Baqir · al-Sadiq al-Kadhim · al-Rida · al-Taqi al-Hadi · al-Askari · al-Mahdi
Twelver doctrine of imamate Hadith of the Twelve Successors v • d • e

The Hadith of the Twelve Successors is a famous Hadith in Islam, in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad speaks about Twelve Muslim rulers succeeding him. It is found in both Sunni and Shi'a hadith books.

1 Versions of the Hadith
2 Shia view
3 Sunni view
4 Links to the Bible
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Versions of the Hadith

Sahih Bukhari:

Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard Muhammad saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers (who will rule all the Islamic world)." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them (those rulers) will be from Quraish." ^[1]

Sahih Muslim:

It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Samura who said: I joined the company of the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) with my father and I heard him say: This Caliphate will not end until there have been twelve Caliphs among them. The narrator said: Then Muhammad said something that I could not follow. I said to my father: What did he say? He said: He has said: All of them will be from the Quraish. ^[2]

Sunan Abu Dawud:

It has been reported on the authority of Jabir b. Samura who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: The affairs of the people will continue to be conducted (well) as long as they are governed by twelve men. Then the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said words which were obscure to me. I asked my father: What did the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say? He said: All of the (twelve men) will be from the Quraish. ^[3]

It has been narrated on the authority of Amir b. Sa'd b. Abu Waqqas who said: I wrote (a letter) to Jabir b. Samura and sent it to him through my servant Nafi', asking him to inform me of something he had heard from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He wrote to me (in reply): I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say on Friday evening, the day on which al-Aslami was stoned to death (for committing adultery): The Islamic religion will continue until the Hour has been established, or you have been ruled over by twelve Caliphs, all of them being from the Quraish. also heard him say: A small force of the Muslims will capture the white palace, the police of the Persian Emperor or his descendants. I also heard him say: Before the Day of Judgment there will appear (a number of) impostors. You are to guard against them. I also heard him say: When God grants wealth to any one of you, he should first spend it on himself and his family (and then give it in charity to the poor). I heard him (also) say: I will be your forerunner at the Cistern (expecting your arrival). ^[4]

Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal:

"There shall be twelve Caliphs for this community, all of them from Quraish." ^[5]

Yanabi al-Muwadda:

In Yanabi al-Muwadda chapter 3, page 99, volume number 76, their name is explicitly told ^[6]

Fara'id al-Simtayn (by Al-Juwayni):

"I am the chief of the Prophets and Ali ibn Abi Talib is the chief of successors, and after me my successors shall be twelve, the first of them being Ali ibn Abi Talib and the last of them being Al Mahdi."

"Certainly my Caliphs and my legatees and the Proofs of Allah upon his creatures after me are twelve. The first of them is my brother and the last of them is my (grand) son."

He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, who is your brother?"

He said, "Ali ibn Abi Talib"

Then they asked, "And who is your son?"

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) replied, "Al Mahdi, the one who will fill the earth with justice and equity like it would be brimming with injustice and tyranny. And by the One Who has raised me as a warner and a give of good tidings, even if a day remains for the life of this world, the Almighty Allah will prolong this day to an extent till he sends my son Mahdi, then he will make Ruhullah 'Isa ibn Maryam (a.s.) to descend and pray behind him (Mahdi). And the earth will be illuminated by his radiance. And his power will reach to the east and the west." ^[7]

"I and Ali and Hasan and Husayn and nine of the descendants of Husayn are the purified ones and the infallible (sinless)." ^[8]

Sunan al-Tirmidhi

"There will be after me twelve Amir (Prince/Ruler), all of them from Quraysh." ^[9]

Kanz al-Ummal

"This religion will remain till twelve Imams from Quraysh (will pass), then when they expire the earth will swallow its inhabitants." ^[10]

"The affair of this nation will always be apparent till the twelve Imams will rise, all of them from the Quraysh."^[^{citation needed]}

Several sources:

"Islam will continue to be triumphant until there have been twelve Caliphs" ... "All of them are from Quraysh." ^[11]

[edit] Shia view

Shias see the 'Hadith of the Twelve Successors' as a basis for their belief in a succession of Imams. Shi'a argue that the "Twelve Successors" must have come in succession, arguing from the term "Successors" (Arabic: Caliph). Twelver Shiites in particular identify the "twelve rulers" with their twelve Imams from Ali to Muhammad al-Mahdi.

[edit] Sunni view

Sunni Muslims disagree with the Shia interpretation. ^[12] The Sunni exegete Imam Nawawi argues that the hadith does not specify linguistically that there will only be twelve Caliphs nor that they will succeed one another successively. Nor that it is assured that the Muslims will be rightly guided by these twelve Caliphs whenever they lead, from the day the statement was made until the Day of Judgment [2] as presumed by the Shia doctrine of the Imam.

The Sharh fiqh Akbar says: ^[13]

"Rasulullah (s) said that the Deen shall remain strong as long as these twelve Khalifas are at the helm, and the twelve are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, 'Ali, Mu'awiya, Yazid bin Muawiah , Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Walid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Sulayman bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Umar bin Abdul Aziz, Yazid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Hasham bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan"

This listing is rejected by Shiites as a Sunni fabrication not going back to Muhammad. They argue that the Caliphate continued for centuries beyond these twelve Caliphs, and that the Mahdi, a messianic figure awaited by both Shias and Sunnis who is believed to be from Muhammad's progeny, does not appear in the above list though he has been identified with the last of the Twelve Successors. Some Sunni narrations, such as Faraid al-symtayn (see below) confirm the Shia position.

Hazrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlawi (Rahimaullah), the famous Indian Sunni scholar who has mastered Hanafi, Shafi and Maliki fiqh, as well as the science of hadith, comments that these hadiths cannot apply to the Twelve Imams (may Allah be pleased with them) as they never ruled as caliphs in any sense or meaning of the word and were called 'Imams' in a religious/spiritual sense and out of respect.

Hazrat Shah Waliullah Dehalwi is of the opinion that the twelve caliphs are as follows: the four Rightly Guided Khalifas, Muawiyah, Abdul Malik and his four sons, Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and Walid bin Abdul Malik. And Allah alone knows best.

[edit] Links to the Bible

Various Muslim authors link the 'Hadith of the Twelve Successors' to verses in the Biblical book of Genesis, which relates God speaking to Abraham:

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." Genesis 17:17-21

The twelve rulers are commonly understood to refer to the twelve sons of Ishmael:

These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. Genesis 25:13-16

Some Muslims reject this identification, identifying Gen. 25:17-20 as a direct quotation of God and Gen. 25:13-16 as the fallible narration of a human author. Further, they argue that 25:16 contains the specifier "tribal" not contained in 17:20, "twelve rulers".

The Shi'a draw a further distinction, arguing that God is not in interested in secular power and refers to the religious authority of prophets or Imams when using the words "rulers" or "kings". According to this argument, the Biblical authors refer to kings or others with secular power when using the same words. Proponents of this view identify the words "great nation" with the Muslim community and not with kingdom. Note however that Twelver Shias consider the Imams not only as religious leaders but also as princes and the rulers. ^[14]

Muslims identify the "twelve rulers" mentioned in Genesis with the Twelve Successors of the Hadith. For instance, the 14th century Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir stated ^[15]:

We see the following prophecy in the Taurat which is in the hands of the Jews and the Christians: "Indeed Allah, the Exalted, has given Ibrahim (a.s.) the glad tidings of Isma'il, and he has bestowed a favour and multiplied it and placed in his progeny twelve mighty (personalities)." ...

Ibn Taymiyya said: "And these are the same, regarding whom the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) has given the glad tidings in the tradition of Jabir ibn Samurah and stated their number; indeed this is with regard to the Imams and the Hour will not come till they last."^[16]

Since these successors, whether Caliph or Imam, originate from the tribe of the Quraish, from which Muhammad sprang, they are considered descendants of Ishmael.

A quote from the Shia Imam Muhammad al-Baqir refers to Abraham's prayer narrated above:

"We are the remnant of progeny. And that was the prayer of Ibrahim (a.s.) regarding us." ^[17]

Several sources also link the Hadith of the Twelve Successors to Twelve tribes of Israel with the words

"Twelve Caliphs, (like) the number of the Chiefs of Bani Israel." ^[18]

A few sources also draw a link to Moses:

"There will be Caliphs after me, whose number is like those of the companions of Musa."^[19]