HADITH OF 12 CALIPHS

One version of Hadith e Thaqalain says that Ahlebayt are khalifa. These khalifa or
caliphs can only be from Quraish as is evident from the following ahadith:
1. Sahih Bukhari Prophet said that after me there will be 12 Amirs and all of them
will be from Quraish
Al Baghawi in regards to the above hadith states that all sunni scholars agree upon its
authenticity.
2. Sahih Muslim Prophet said that life will not end until 12 caliphs come. Then he
said something which I did not hear. I asked my father, he said all of them will be from
Quraish
3. Sahih Mulim Islam will be strong until 12 caliphs come. The narrator heard the
same thing about hearing from his father
4. Religion will be strong until 12 caliphs come. Then something happened and people
did not allow me to hear.
5. In Tirmizi Same hadith with this addition : I asked the person besides me. He said
all of them will be from Quraish
Reference: Tirmizi vol. 4, pg. 106, under the chapter of Imam Mahdi
6. Sunan Abu Dawud with authentic chain: People started to yell and shout. I didnt
hear what the Prophet said. People started to stand and sit (it seems that something must
have had happened)
7. Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal (with authentic chain) Someone comes to Abdullah
ibn Masud and asks him: Did Prophet tell you how many caliphs to this ummah? Ibn
Masud said, Yes, and no one asked me this except you. He then said, 12 just like
Bani Israel
Reference: Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal, vol. 1, pg. 398
According to Ibn Hajar Asqalani, with regards to the above hadith, it is hadith Hasan.
He mentions this in his book Fath Al Bari, vol. 13, pg. 181

HOW SUNNIS EXPLAIN THIS HADITH?

Ibn Hajar Asqalani in the above reference said that Ibn Jowzi in Kashful Mushkil said,
I spent a lot of time on this hadith, trying to understand it and trying to explain it and
asked about it a lot and found nobody who knows the meaning of this hadith.
Ibn Mohalla said: I have met nobody who is certain of this hadith.
Many scholars try to name the 12 caliphs. Some say they are the caliphs of Bani
Ummayah and are less than 12. Some say they are caliphs are Bani Abbas and more
than 12.
Ibn Taymiyyah mentions all 12 names but did not include Imam Ali but included Yazid,
Al Hajjaj and Muawiya. The hadith however says, that Islam will be strong with 12
caliphs. How can Islam be strong with Yazid, Muawiya and Al Hajjaj is a big question
mark.
There is also a weak hadith by Abdullah ibn Umar. He did not included Imam Ali but
included Yazid, Muawiya and others. This version was accepted by Ibn Taymiyyah. He
says muslims were strong during the 12 caliphs but when Imam Ali was the caliph,
muslims were weak because they were fighting with each other. However, Prophet
was very clear. He said Islam will be strong not muslims. During the days of Yazid,
Islam became very weak. Sins were committed openly, drinking wine, alcohol was
common, gay marriages were accepted (Yahya ibn Akhtham). Anas ibn Malik used to
cry because people forgot how to pray namaz. Thus Islam was weak, though the caliph
was strong. Anyone going against the caliph was either exiled or killed.
Thus we see that sunni scholars dont have a scientific explanation to the hadith rather
they just treat it as a piece of news.
As-Suyuti tries to explain in many different ways and finally says in respect to the
hadith that ; Im haqeble. Haqeble means looking for a piece of wood in dark place.
It meant that he doesnt know the meaning of the hadith.
Ahlus Sunnah need to know the meaning of the hadith because Prophet says that these
12 caliphs after me will make Islam strong. Prophet Ibrahim spoke about them, the
Torah and Injil spoke about them. Isnt it then logical to know all the 12 caliphs? One
will definitely feel obligated to know them given their importance and emphasis in
varied scriptures.

-------------------------------THE WORD CALIPHA

Lets ponder over the word calipha and see if a caliph is chosen by somebody or is
he to be elected by the people.
Lets take an example: If Prophet says Abu Bakr is my calipha, it is logical that we all
have to follow Abu Bakr.
Ibn Taymiyyah says, in Arabic language, if someone says he is my caliph means I
have to follow him and it does NOT mean that someone else will choose him.
Reference: Minhajj us Sunnah by Ibn Taymiyyah, vol. 1, pg. 494
Thus when we look at the above ahadith it becomes clear that the Prophet had already
chosen his caliphs.
------------------------------IDENTITY OF THE PERSON WHO SAID All of them will be from Quraish
In Fath Al Bari, vol. 13, page 180, Ibn Hajar Asqalani says: the person besides the
narrator who said All of them will be from Quraish is none other than Umar ibn
Khattab.
At-Tabarani also said he is Umar ibn Khattab.
Thus we see that the information/statement all of them will be from Quraish did not
come from the Prophet but from Umar. This is extremely noteworthy as generally
people tend to accept this statement as if the Holy Prophet (s) had uttered it, which is
clearly not the case.

CONCLUSION
1. Number of caliph: 12
2. They are all from Ahlebayt. Quraish is a general term, but Ahlebayt is specific.
Why was Prophet not specific? He may have been specific, but the phrase all of them
will be from Quraish did not come from the Prophet but from Umar since he (Umar)
must have said this to fit him and others in the hadith as well. Thus this hadith may
have been filtered.
3. Those people are important since Allah spoke about them in Torah and gave details
in divine books.
Torah: Allah spoke to Ibrahim there will be 12 great men who will be rulers and will
be great nations.
These 12 great men are the same people who are mentioned in Bukhari and Muslim.
How do we know this? Because Ibn Katheer and Ibn Taymiyyah admit that they are the
same which are mentioned in Torah.
Ibn Katheer : in his book Al Bidaya wa al Nihaya, vol. 6, pg. 250 he says
In Torah which is in the hands to the people, Allah told Ibrahim that Ismail will come
and they will expand and from his descendants will be 12 great people. My teacher Ibn
Taymiyyah said they are the same 12 who are mentioned in the hadith by Jabir ibn
Sumra which is in Bukhari and Muslim and said many jews and Christians who became
muslims were mistaken by the same 12 which imam.(take exact statement from AY)
Verse 48:29 of Holy Quran:
Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. and those who are with him are strong against
Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. Thou wilt see them bow and
prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure.
On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration. This is their
similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends
forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own
stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the Unbelievers
with rage at them. Allah has promised those among them who believe and do righteous
deeds forgiveness, and a great Reward.
In the above verse, those who are with him cannot be all the companions of the
Prophet since all of them were not merciful with each other. Rather they are the 12
Imams
It is not logical that Allah spoke about them, mentioned in Injil and Taurah, Prophet
Ibrahim knew about them and still the companions were not aware who those 12 great
men are. The information was thus erased/filtered and people do this because they are
in an environment which doesnt allow them to narrate such a hadith, for example: even
though they know Imam Ali is a great faqih and we have to follow Ahlebayt, they
avoided him.

Abdul Razzak al-Sanani, the teacher of Bukhari, said: that Ahle Sunnah dont say wa
Aale Mohammed in shahadat even though they know they should say it but were afraid
of Bani Umayyah i.e. they were practising taqiyyah.
Reference: Subbul al-Salam, vol. 1, pg. 193
There are 2 lists for 12 caliphs
1. List from Shias
2. List from Ahle Sunnah
We will now check which list agrees with the hadith
1. The shia list is mentioned with authentic chain according to our rules. The same
hadith is mentioned in sunni books.
Reference: Faraid al Simtain by Al-Jowaini, vol. 2, pg. 132, hadith no.: 431
The hadith has reliable narrators except two are not authenticated nor weakened. So
many scholars afford it the status of Hasan.
The two narrators which are not authenticated or weakened are:
a) Ahmed ibn Matraf ibn Sawad ibn Hussain al Qadhi al Basti
b) Abdul Ghaffar ibn Katheer ibn Kalebi
For Ahmed ibn Matraf:
Al Khateeb al-Baghdad met him in year 227 A.H. and took some ahadith from him and
did not weaken him.
Reference: Tarikh al Baghdad, vol. 5, pg. 171
For Abdul Ghaffar ibn Katheer ibn Kalebi:
He has to his credit many narrations mostly with regards to the virtues of Ahlebayt and
not weakened by anyone.

How to authenticate the above hadith:

There are some reliable narrators who narrated from these 2 people. Al Albani said if a
reliable narrator narrated from someone who is not authenticated or weakened, then this
narrator is reliable. This is an authentication rule for Al Albani.
In the above hadith, the person who narrated from Abdul Ghaffar ibn Katheer ibn
Kalebi is Ibrahim ibn Hameed who is a reliable narrator and scholars who said he is
reliable are Abu Naeem, an-Nisaei, Abu Hatim, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawud, Ibn
Shaheen and Ibn Habban. They all said that Ibrahim ibn Hameed is reliable and he
narrated from Ibn Kalebi who is not authenticated nor weakened, thus making him
reliable too (acc. to Al Albanis rule of authentication)
Reference: Tahdeeb al Kamaal by Al-Mizzi, vol. 2, pg. 78, hadith no.: 167
Ibn Mizzi said that all the scholars above like Abu Naeem etc authenticated Ibrahim
ibn Hameed.
5

It is connected to Prophet, so its an hujjah on us and them because we cannot go to

their books and add such a hadith. Al Jowaini is a respected scholar of Ahle Sunnah.
Az-Dhahabi said about Al-Jowaini: He is my teacher, he is an imam, a person who
narrates hadith, he is unique, complete, Islam is honoured with him, very careful with
hadith and narrating books, recites Quran in a proper way, looks nice, he was very
religious and because of him king Ghazzan became a muslim.
The above hadith is supported in shia as well as sunni books.
2. The shia list/hadith is connected to the Prophet. The list provided by the sunnis is not
connected to Prophet but reaches Abdullah ibn Umar. So maybe, its just an opinion of
Ibn Umar. Since it is proved earlier that the word khalifati ie. My caliph means I have
chosen him, thus it seems that Ibn Umar chose the Imams, which is not true.
3. Bukhari and Muslim hadith say: Islam will be strong with those 12 people.
Our list has people which made Islam strong. The sunni list has people like Muawiya,
Yazid, Al Hajjaj. Was Islam made strong or supported with them? No. Thus Prophet
was not speaking about these individuals. Also the sunni list must be avoided because
Imam Ali and Hasan are not included.
4. Hadith says that all ummah will agree upon them
People at their time did not agree upon caliphs like Yazid, Muawiya, al-Hajjaj.
However, speaking about our caliphs, all ummah agree on them.
Az-Dhahabi (student of Ibn Taymiyyah) says: Imam Ali is among the rightly guided,
he is from Ahle Jannah, everyone loves him and we follow him. And his sons, Imam
Hasan and Hussain are grand children of Prophet and masters of the youth of paradise,
Imam Zainul Abedeen was a great person and deserves such guidance. He was able to
take imamate because of his knowledge and relationship with Allah, and he is very
wise. Imam Baqir gathered knowledge, action and reliability and able to take khilafat.
Imam Sadiq, he deserves khilafat because of knowledge etc. Imam Kazim was a great
person, knowledgable and better than Harun al- Rashid and said good things about
Imam Reza
Reference: Siyar Alam un-Nubula by az-Dhahabi
So, the hadith of Prophet agrees with our list of 12 great people and is in conflict with
theirs. It is thus quite clear that the list provided by the Ahle Sunnah is infact a mere
guess by their scholars since they have been unable to come up with names of the
caliphs keeping in mind the conditions laid down by the hadith in various forms. The
list provided by the shias is in complete alignment with the conditions of the hadith and
has names which are respected not only in the shia circles but also in the sunni Islam.