Hadith of the Twelve Successors

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

In this article, we are going to invite our Sunni brothers, through their own authentic sources, to the Truth about wilayah of the Twelve Imams as.gif. Often, people do not read some of the most important hadiths related to the "twelve successors" issue. Therefore, they have a badly wounded understanding of the hadith, and the entire concept in general.


First and foremost, we would like to open the eyes of our brothers to a clear reality. Whosoever dies without having giving ba'yah to an Imam dies the death of Jahiliyyah, i.e. as a kafir! Allah (swt) may forgive those who failed to recognize the Imam of their time out of innocent ignorance, but not anyone who has read this article. In that case, you would be deliberately opposing Allah (swt) and His Messenger pbuh.gif.

Ibn Abu Asim in his book al-Sunnah, page 489 records this hadith:

من مات وليس عليه إمام مات ميتة جاهلية

Whoever dies without having an Imam dies the death of Jahiliyyah.

Shaykh al-Albani in his commentary on the hadith, writes:

إسناده حسن ورجاله ثقات

Its chain is Hasan and all of its narrators are Thiqah.

Imam Muslim has recorded this one in his Sahih, Kitab al-Imarah:

من مات وليس في عنقه بيعة مات ميته جاهلية

Whoever dies without having on his neck bayah (to an Imam) dies the death of Jahiliyyah.

Lastly, Imam Ibn Hibban has recorded in his Sahih, Volume 7 page 49:

من مات بغير إمام مات ميتة جاهلية

Whoever dies without an Imam dies the death of Jahiliyyah.

The question is: do you have an Imam?

Anyway, there are other hadiths here. Shaykh al-Albani in his al-Targheeb wa al-Tarheeb, Volume 2, records this hadith:

الأئمة من قريش إن لي عليكم حقا ولهم عليكم حقا مثل ذلك

The Imams are from Quraysh. They have equal right over you as I do.

Al-Albani says:

صحيح

It is sahih.

So, just as the Holy Prophet pbuh.gif has a right of unconditional obedience over us, these Imams as.gif too have the same right! Now, this new fact makes things really more complicated for or Sunni brothers. This is because, this hadith means that whosoever deliberately disobeys any of these Imams, of fails to recognize any of them, has committed kufr! It is like deliberately disobeying Allah (swt) and His Messenger pbuh.gif, or failing to recognize them.

Some people might claim that there is no Imam at this time! The problem with such assertion is that it presupposes that the Holy Prophet pbuh.gif was uttering nonsense, placing an impossible task over his Ummah. We all know that this is impossible. Rather, the Imams from Quraysh will rule the Ummah for all times, good or bad, till the Day of Resurrection. Shaykh al-Albani once again in his Kitab al-Sunnah 1110 records this hadith:

قريش ولاة الناس في الخير و الشر إلى يوم القيامة

The Quraysh will rule mankind, whether they are in good times or bad times, till the Day of Resurrection.

Al-Albani says:

إسناده صحيح على شرط مسلم

Its chain is sahih on the conditions of (Imam) Muslim.

Al-Albani in his Zilal al-Jannah, Volume 2, records:

الخلافة في قريش إلى قيام الساعة

The khilafah (succession) will remain with Quraysh till Hour.

Al-Albani states:

إسناده جيد

Its chain is good.

In his Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah 1/719, al-Albani records this hadith:

[ لا يزال هذا الأمر عزيزا إلى اثني عشر خليفة كلهم من قريش ] . وفي لفظ لا يزال هذا الأمر عزيزا منيعا ينصرون على من ناوأهم عليه إلى اثني عشر خليفة كلهم من قريش . أخرجه مسلم وأحمد وابنه . وله طري أخرى بلفظ لا يزال هذا الأمر ماضيا حتى يقوم اثنا عشر أميرا كلهم من قريش . أخرجه أحمد واسناده صحيح .


‘This affair shall not cease to be glorious up to twelve successors, every one of them being from the Quraysh”. And in a narration “This affair will not cease to be glorious and invincible, conquering anyone who opposes it, so long as twelve successors will rule over them, every one of them coming from Quraysh". Muslim, Ahmad and the son of Ahmad have narrated it. And in a narration: "The religion will continue to be established as long as there are twelve commanders, everyone of them coming from the Quraysh” Ahmad has narrated this, and its chain is sahih.


So, the number of Imams from Quraysh, that will rule mankind till the end of the world, is twelve. They are also the true "caliphs" (successors). As long as people allow them to have political power and do not play hypocrisy against them, Islam will become invincible.

There is also another aspect to it. In Sahih Muslim we read the following:

“The affairs of the people will continue to be conducted as long as they are governed by twelve men, he then added from Quraish”
Sahih Muslim, Hadith number 4478 English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui

This shows that as long as humans exist on this earth, one of the twelve Imams is certainly governing their affairs. This is a matter of Wilayat Takwiniyyah. There are two types of governance in Islam: political and takwini. The true Imams are always exercising Takwini Authority no matter what. However, they may be deprived of political power. But, if they were given political power by Muslims, and none oppose their rule, Islam wopuld become glorious and invincible. The fact that Muslims are backward is proof that they have abandoned these Imams.

Al-Albani too has recorded in his Miskhkat al-Masabih 4/576, No. 5:

لا يزال أمر الناس ماضيا ما وليهم اثنا عشر رجلا كلهم من قريش

The affairs of the people will continue to be conducted as long as they are governed by twelve men, he then added from Quraysh

Al-Albani comments:

متفق عليه

Agreed upon.

Al-Albani however cites a further hadith in his Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah 6/562 on how to deal with these twelve successors:

من يعش منكم بعدي يرى اختلافا كثيرا فعليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين بعدي عضوا عليها بالنواجذ

Whoever lives after me will see a lot of differences (among Muslims in their religion). Therefore, hold onto my Sunnah and the sunnah of the divinely guided successors after me. Hold onto them with fanaticism.


The hadith however dos not end there:

وإياكم ومحدثات الأمور فإن كل محدثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلال

Beware of innovations (in the religion). This is because every innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance.


Al-Albani comments:

صحيح

It is sahih.

This hadith shows that the Twelve Imams are divinely guided, and that their sunnah is also the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah pbuh.gif. They NEVER violate the true Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah pbuh.gif.

Obviously, the picture is becoming clearer now. Explaining further on the status of these twelve Imams, the Holy Prophet pbuh.gif said:

قدموا قريشا ولا تقدموها وتعلموا من قريش ولا تعلموها

The Quraysh leads and is never led. Also, learn from Quraysh and never (attempt to) teach them.
Sahih al-Jami' al-Sagheer, No. 4382

Al-Albani says:

صحيح

It is sahih.

In his Zilal al-Jannah 2/464, al-Albani records this hadith:

لا تقدموا قريشا فتهلكوا ولا تخلفوا عنها فتضلوا

Never go ahead of Quraysh, otherwise you will perish. And never disagree with them, otherwise you will be misled.

Al-Albani keeps mute on its authenticity.

Now, Sunnis claim that these Twelve Imams are Abubakr, Umar, Uthman and others. The problem with this assertion is that:

1. Abubakr, Umar and Uthman contradicted the Qur'an and Sunnah on so many occasions
2. They never claimed to have been divinely guided

THe only plausible explanation is that these people are the Twelve Imams as.gif of the Ahl al-Bayt. This argument is further supported by a Sahih hadith.


إني تارك فيكم خليفتين ، كتاب الله حبل ممدود ما بين السماء والأرض وعترتي أهل بيتي ، وأنهما لن يفترقا حتى يردا عليّ الحوض

I am leaving among you two successors: the Book of Allah, a rope reaching from the heaven to the earth and my Itrah, my Ahl al-Bayt. The two will never separate until they meet me at the Pond.
Sahih Jami' al-Saghir 1/842 No. 2457

Al-Albani once again says:

صحيح

It is sahih.

So, the Ahl al-Bayt as.gif are the true Imams of this Ummah.