Introducing the twelve Sunni Imams

Introducing the twelve Sunni Imams

Now that we have shown the fallacy of this claim let us introduce the actual 12 Imams of Ahl'ul Sunnah. As Shi'a we believe that the 12 Imams were Rasulullah (s)'s legitimate successors, appointed by Allah (swt). As part of the proof from Sunni traditions we cite hadith such as this:

"The Islamic religion will continue, until the hour has been established, or you have been ruled over by 12 Caliphs, all of them being from Quraish" [Sahih Muslim, hadith number 4483, English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui]

Sharra Fiqa Akbar by Mulla 'Ali Qari is the Hanafi Book of aqaid. On the very first page it is stated that the book sets out the aqeedah of Ahl'ul Sunnah wa al Jamaah. So there is no room for the adherents of the Ahlul-bayt Web page to make the excuse that this is JUST a viewpoint. Everything set out in this book is the aqeedah of Hanafi Sunni Muslims. Mulla Ali Qari sets out who the 12 khalifas are:
1. Abu Bakr
2. Umar
3. Uthman
4. Ali
5. Mu'awiya
6. Yazid
7. Abdul Malik bin Marwan
8. Walid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan
9. Sulayman bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan
10. Umar bin Abdul Aziz
11. Yazid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan
12. Hasham bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan
[Taken from Sharra Fiqa Akbar, by Mulla Ali Qari, p 176 (publishers Muhammad Saeed and son, Qur'an Muhalla)]"

Of course remaining faithful to Hanafi aqeedah, later Sunni Ulema have defined this hadith in the same way. We now present Siratun Nabi by Allamah Shibli Numani and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi.

Sufficient as to its rank are the words of the Sunni scholar Muhammad Atiqul Haque in his "Heroes of Islam":

"Sirat an Nabi is a unique book on the life of the Prophet and is acclaimed as one of the best books in the world. He wrote only four volumes of this book and the remaining four volumes were written by his disciple, Syed Sulayman Nadvi". (p130)

These are Nadvi and Numani's comments taken from Volume 3 page 701:

In Sahih Muslim Kitab ul Imara Rasulullah (s) said, This Islamic Government would last until it has been ruled over by 12 people. This Rulership will not end until these 12 Rulers are at the helm of the State. Islam will be "protected and respectable" (the Urdu says Mahfooz aur muazziz) during their reigns. Abu Daud in Kitab al Mahdi records these words "The Deen will remain intact as long as 12 people have ruled it and the Ummah will recognize them". Qazi Abbas explains these words (of Abu Daud) 'The 12 khalifas who aided Islam were pious', Hafidh Ibn Hajar counts the following as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Mu'awiya, Yazid, 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,

Finally we present a modern day commentary from a modern day Hanafi scholar, Hakeem Mahmood Ahmad Zafar Sialkoti. On page 261 of his book (Urdu) "Sayyadina Mu'awiya (ra), Shukhsiat aur kirdhaar", he comments on the 12 khulafa hadith as follows:

"These 12 khalifas are good natured, pious men and in their reigns Islam shall be protected and respectable, their reign shall be in accordance with the Qur'an and Sunnah and in their reign the rule of justice shall be apparent. Mulla Ali Qari put forward these 12 as "Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Mu'awiya, Yazid, 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 - taken from Sharra Fiqa Akbar page 184; Fathul Bari Volume 3 page 182) According to Mulla Ali Qari's above statements its quite evident that Mu'awiya is a khalifa ai Rashid".

By the same token, Yazid is also a rightly guided khalifa since he describes the twelve as rightly guided, ruling by the Qur'an and Sunnah. Interesting is the fact that in this Hanafi list, Mu'awiya is counted as an individual who fought against Hadhrath Ali (as) and introduced the practice of cursing him (as) in the mosques. This was not abolished until the reign of Umar bin Abdul Aziz. Hence, the Khalifas after Mu'awiya through to Sulayman bin Abdul Malik, all endorsed this cursing practice. Lets not forget the fine character of Yazid, the killer of Hadhrath Imam Hussain (as), who made captives of the Ahl'ul bayt. What fine upstanding lovers of the Ahl'ul bayt they were.

So what do we learn from the Hanafi Ulema, the alleged 'true' followers of Ahl'ul bayt (as)?

1. Islam will exist until the Day of Judgment
   
2. In that time 12 Caliphs will have been leaders of the Ummah.
   
3. Islam will continue as long as these 12 have ruled.
   
4. They shall protect and respect the religion
   
5. They shall rule in accordance with the dictates of the Qur'an and Sunnah
   
6. Yazid was the 6th from this respectable line of Khalifas.
   

On the one hand, the site proclaims that the Ahl'ul Sunnah are the TRUE adherents of Ahl'ul bayt and on the other their AQEEDAH is that Rasulullah's 12 khalifa's include those that cursed and endorsed the cursing of Ali (as) - the 6th great figure being none other than Yazid, murderer of Imam Hussain (as).

Somehow the passionate claims about following Ahl'ul bayt (as) don't seem to match up with their actual aqeedah. Rather than focus their guns on the Shi'a, we suggest that they perform an autopsy on their own aqeedah.