1. The Hadith on Twelve Imams
AfterstudyingabouttheleadershipofImam‘Aliandbrieflyreviewing
thekhilāfatofSaqifah,itisnowadvisabletorefertoseveralpartsofthe
77thchapterofYanābi‘u’l-MawaddahofafamousSunnischolaral-Hāfiz
Sulaymān al-Qundūzi al-Hanafi (d. 1294AH/1877AD).
Al-Qundūzi first quotes a well known hadīth of the Prophet that:
“There willbe twelve caliphs, all from the Quraysh.” This hadīth has
been quoted by many books of ahadith includingthat of Bukhāri, al-
Muslim, Abu Dāwud and at-Tirmidhi.
Thenal-QundūziquotesmanytraditionstotheeffectthattheProphet
said,“I,‘Ali,Hasan,HusaynandnineofthedescendantsofHusaynare
pureandsinless.”ThentheauthorquotesthattheProphetsaidtoImam
Husaynbin‘Ali:“You areachief,brotherofachief;youareanImam,
sonofanImam,brotherof anImam;youare Proof(ofAllah), sonofa
Proof(ofAllah),brotherofaProof(ofAllah),andfatherofnineProofs
(of Allah), the ninth of whom will be al-Mahdi.”
After quoting many suchtraditions, hewrites: “Some scholars have
saidthat the traditions (which show that the caliphs after the Prophet
wouldbetwelve)arewellknown,frommanychainsofnarration.Now,
withthepassageoftimeandthroughhistoricalevents,weknowthatin
thishadīththeProphethasreferredtotheTwelveImamsfromhisfamily
(Ahlu ’l-bayt) and descendants, because:
“This hadīth cannot apply to the foural-khulafā’u ’r-rāshidunfrom
among his companions, as they were less than twelve.
“Andit cannotapplyto the caliphsfrom the tribe of Umayyad,be-
cause(a) theyweremorethantwelve;(b)allof themweretyrantsand
unjust(except‘Umaribn‘Abdi’l-‘Azīz);and(c)theywerenotfromthe
BanuHāshimastheProphethassaidinahadīththat`allofthemwillbe
from the Banu Hāshim'...
“Andit cannotapply to the caliphsfrom the ‘Abbāsids, because(a)
theyweremorethantwelve;and(b)theydidnotcomplywith (thede-
mands of) the verseSay, `I do not ask of you any recompense for it