“The religion will continue to be established till the hour comes as there are twelve Caliphs over them, everyone of them coming from the Quraish”. Mishkat al Masabih: (Vol 4 p 576), Hadith 5
“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
Can someone please tell me who these 12 caliphs are ?? According to Jalaudin Sayuti (Tarikh al Khulafa) there were 4 rightly guided caliphs 14 from Banu Ummaiya and 49 from Banu Abbasids. This does not add up to 12, so who are these 12 Caliphs that these ahadith are reffering to?
4 have come, which we know as khulafa-e-rashideen....
if ppl wish to add hassan (ra) to it, and some do add umar bin abdulaziz to the list, we can move the number a bit higher....
and judgement day is yet to come so hold ur breath, we still have time to complete the 12....
P.S. if u wish to somehow associate this to the imams of shiaas, then i dont think anyone of them got the title (or position) of khalifa after Ali (ra) and Hassan (ra)....
4 have come, which we know as khulafa-e-rashideen....
if ppl wish to add hassan (ra) to it, and some do add umar bin abdulaziz to the list, we can move the number a bit higher....
and judgement day is yet to come so hold ur breath, we still have time to complete the 12....
So in other words there are atleast 6 more khalifas that will come before judgement day.
yep, as another hadith tells us that khilafah on the path of the Prophet (saw) will be established once again on earth after the kingdom takes place of khilafat....
so in the second coming of this real khilafat we might see the remaining of these 12 khalifas who r to be from Quraysh....
wot i have heard is that the 4 are Khulfha-e-Rashaydeen, and others are those who followed the path of khulfha-e-rashdeen like Hazrat umer-bin-abdul-aziz... Also the last one will be Imam Mehdi... Some believe 11 has come and only Imam Mehdi is remaining ... others have different view... but i think everybody believe that the last one will be Imam Mehdi.
I think that the twelve caliphs mean the twelve mujaddideen at the head of each century. The line of Mujaddideen starts with Umar b Abdul Aziz (ra). All the mujaddideen did descend from Quraish.
I think that the twelve caliphs cannot be from Banu Ummaya as they were the ones who murdered Imam Husayn (as) and then afterwards jailed and murdered the descendants of Imam Husayn (as). The only leader from Banu Ummaya Kingdom after Yazid who I think deserves any respect is Umar bin abd' al-Aziz. But he is not a Mujaddid.
I think we're forgetting here Sayyidina Imam al-Mahdi (as) a hasani-husayni Sayyid from the family of Sayyidina Rasul-Allah (saws) who is the Sahib uz-Zamaan, Sahib ul-Waqt, the awaited khalif....
P.S. if u wish to somehow associate this to the imams of shiaas, then i dont think anyone of them got the title (or position) of khalifa after Ali (ra) and Hassan (ra)....
^ 4 + 1+ 1 = 6 that leaves us with 5 names to guess before Imam Mehdi
Even as the Shi'a belief is that of the 12 Imams starting with Imam Ali (as) and ending with Imam Hasan al-Askari's son who will be Imam Mahdi (as), who is in occultation is different from what Sunni's learn, I wouldn't rule them out from not being among the 12 Khalifs, as they did establish the religion firmly, ALL of them contributed considerably to the establishment of this deen and all of them fought directly against the oppressive rulers the Ummayads and the Abbasids throughout their lives and they were all jailed and tortured by the Ummayads and Abbasids. Can we really say that a man from the Banu Ummaya whose ancestor killed the Prophet's grandson, would be declared as one of the 12 Khalifs?
For example look at Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (as), who was the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifah (ra) for the first two years of his Islamic education. Imam Abu Hanifah has the largest following of a Madhab in the entire Muslim world, and Imam Abu Hanifah (ra) said about himself, that if it were not for the two years I studied under the tutelage of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq, Abu Hanifah would perish. Or look at Imam Husayn (as), he gave his life for the establishment of a just government in the face of Yazid a ruthless drunkard fornicator hunter. To this day, even though Yazid felt during his time that he succeeded in getting revenge on Banu Hashim and more specifically on the holy Prophet (saws) and his family, because Yazid felt that the Holy Prophet (saws) took leadership away from Abu Sufyan who was Yazid's grandfather, Yazid declared that he got his revenge by murdering the grandson of Rasul-Allah (saws) - but even to this day, Imam Husayn (as) is seen as the hero and the victor and that is because he stood for the establishment of al-Haqq over batil.
Another point to consider, is that Imam al-Mahdi (as) is a descendant of Rasul-Allah (saws). There is much emphasis even in Sunni belief that peace in this world will be established with his coming. The rule of this world under the family of the holy Prophet (saws) is what we as Sunni's believe...in the end this world is always under the rule of the Prophet (saws) in one way or another.
The 12 Khalifa will be from Quraish…Not necessarily from the Ahl-e-Bait…
Second, in the grave, in the Day of Resurrection and the hereafter, there would be two things that would matter…
How well you followed the Quran…
How well you followed the Sunnah…
These two things make up Islam and everything else is redundant…Whether 12 Khalifas or 1,200 Khalifas, in the hereafter, only Quran and the Sunnah will matter…
Innovations in Quran and Sunnah will be dealt with severely…Exclusions in Quran and Sunnah will be dealt with severely…
Success in Islam lies in what Allah :swt: has revealed through the Quran and the Sunnah…
No third person stands between you and your destiny to either grant you Paradise or grant you Hellfire…
No Imam, no Khalifa, no Shaikh, no peer can guarantee you anything except your own deeds…
So, just stick to the Quran and the Sunnah for success…For it is these that Allah :swt: sent to the nation of Muslims to guide them and nothing else…