... and one of my quetions hasn't been answered yet.. it was: why don't we find reference of 12th imam of 12ers from the books of sects other than the 12ers themselves?? will read your post 2moro. gotta go now..
refernces from reknowns sunnis book.i had send u few links previously but u even don't care to read it .thats the reason u r again asking same Q any ways im pasting few saying of our Prophet(SA) from sunni's book.
We read in Bukhari and Muslim:
*Narrated Jabir ibn Samura: I heard the Prophet (s) saying:
"There will be Twelve Commanders." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, the Prophet added, "All of them will be from Quraysh." *
1. Sahih al-Bukhari (English ver.) Hadith: 9.329. Sahih al-Bukhari, (Arabic), 4:165, Kitabul Ahkam. This hadeeth is narrated in many other sources as well, including:
2. Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol 5 p97 and 101
3. Umadathl Qari- page 271
4. Tafseer ibn Kathir Vol7 page 110
5. Jami Usul Volume 4 page 440 (Egypt)
6. Al Bidaya al Nihaya Volume 2 page 248
7. Sawaiqh al Muhriqa page 187
8. Hilayathul Awliya Volume 333
9. Tarkeeh Kabeer Volume 1 446
*The Prophet (s) said: "The Religion (Islam) will continue until the Hour (Day of Resurrection), having Twelve Caliphs for you, all of them will be from Quraysh."
*Sahih Muslim. (English ver.), Chapter DCCLIV, v3, p1010, Tradition #4483; Sahih Muslim (Arabic), Kitab al-Imaara, 1980 Saudi Arabian Edition, v3, p1453, Tradition #10
Al-Juwayni, in his Farai’d as-Simtayn, reports these hadeeths:
**The Prophet (s) said: "I and Ali and Hasan and Husayn and nine of the descendants of Husayn are the purified ones and the inerrant."
The Prophet (s) said: "Certainly my Caliphs and my legatees and the Proofs of Allah upon his creatures after me are twelve. The first of them is my brother and the last of them is my (grand) son." He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, who is your brother?" He said, "Ali ibn Abi Talib" Then they asked, "And who is your son?" The Holy Prophet (s) replied, "Al Mahdi, the one who will fill the earth with justice and equity like it would be brimming with injustice and tyranny. And by the One Who has raised me as a warner and a give of good tidings, even if a day remains for the life of this world, the Almighty Allah will prolong this day to an extent till he sends my son Mahdi, then he will make Ruhullah 'Isa ibn Maryam (a) to descend and pray behind him (Mahdi). And the earth will be illuminated by his radiance. And his power will reach to the east and the west."
The Prophet (s) said: "I am the chief of the Prophets and Ali ibn Abi Talib is the chief of successors, and after me my successors shall be twelve, the first of them being Ali ibn Abi Talib and the last of them being Al Mahdi." **
*Fara'id al-Simtayn, Beirut 1978, p. 160. *
Based on the Qur’an and these narrations, the import of which is mutawatir and cannot be doubted, we are now faced with the following results:
- There must always be an Imam; this is established by the Holy Qur’an without any doubt.
- That the Imam must be appointed by God. Therefore, the Imam of the time cannot be a corrupt Sultan appointed by his father, or a rebel who has taken power through force, nor somebody elected by the Muslims.
- That there will only be Twelve such Imams after the Prophet (s).
The narrations that insist upon the existence of Twelve Successors, and only Twelve, remove any doubts one might have that the Imam of the time might be the Imam of one of the other Shi’a sects, such as the Ismailis. The Ismaili lines of Imamate do not accord with the number twelve, and in fact do not even accord with their own sacred number of seven. The Ismailis believed that there would be seven Imams after the Prophet (s), yet all of the Ismaili lines have had many more Imams than seven. As such, there should not be any question about whether or not the current Imam (whom the Qur’an states must exist) is one of the Ismaili Imams. As for the Zaidis, they do not have an Imamate currently (being abolished in the sixties), and do not believe that Imamate is an office of necessity or appointed by God. As such, even if they had an Imam now, he would not be the type of witness, guide, and Imam foretold by the Holy Qur’an.
Well what better guide is there than the hadith of the Prophet (saaws): "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, English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui
Now just ponder over these ahadith The Islamic religion will continue - the Muslims can suffer oppression, go through hardships etc. but Islam will remain intact, with all it's conditions, qualities and virtues as long as there exist these 12 Khalifa's. Think carefully, deen is attached to the ruling of 12 Khalifa's. The number 12 is of significance here, it can not apply to political leadership, Jalaladeen Suyuti in Tarikh ul Khulufa recounts that there were 4 Rightly guides khalifas', 14 khalifas' from Banu Ummayah and 49 Khalifas' from the Banu Abbasids.
The number 12 does not fit anywhere here, because the Prophet (saaws) was not talking about leaders appointed by men. The Prophet (saaws) was referring to absolute religious leadership, through which deen can be identified, it started at Ghadhir Khumm when the Prophet (saaws) declared before a gathering of 124,000 Sahaba "Of whomsoever I am Maula (Master) Ali is his Maula".
It was here that the succession to Prophethood, Imamate was declared. What is crucial is the verse which descended following the sermon declaring Ali (as)'s Wilayat.
"Today, I have perfected your religion and completed my bounty upon you, and I was satisfied that you religion be Islam" (Quran 5:3).
This verse makes it clear Allah (swt) did not declare the perfection of religion, the completion of his bounties and his satisfaction until Hadhrath Ali (as)'s Imamate was formally declared at the end of the Prophetic mission.
Recognition of Islam is through these 12 Khalifa's. Khalifa means, "to follow" they are the Prophet (saaws)'s khalifas' but they are our Imams for they lead us. These are the 12 Imams the Prophet (saaws)'s authorised representatives.
At the same time the Prophet (saaws) told us which party would be saved, when he said "I am leaving amongst you two things, the Qur'an and my Ahlulbayt, if you follow them you will never go astray".
*1. Sahih Muslim, part 7, Kitab fada'il al?Sahabah [Maktabat wa Matbaat MuhammadAli Subayh wa Awladuhu: Cairo] pp. 122-123
- al?'Imam al-Hafiz Abu
Abd Allah al?Hakim al?Naysaburi, al?Mustadrakala al-Sahihayn Dar al?Marifah li al?Tibaah wa al?Nashr: Beirut), vol. iii, pp. 109-110*
The Prophet recounted this tradition to his Sahaba, which proves the Sahaba could go astray if they turned away from these two sources of guidance. When the Christians of Najran came to debate with the Prophet (saaws) he first presented Islam as a theory via verses from the Qur'an, when the challenge of mubahila was made to prove which Deen is correct, the Prophet (saaws) took with him those who presented Islam on a complete practical level, he took his Ahlulbayt and no one else.
"Recognition of the family of Muhammad is freedom from the Fire. Love of the family of Muhammad is crossing over the Sirat. Friendship for the family of Muhammad is safety from the fire".
*1. Ash-Shifa, page 142 by Qadi Iyad, (d.544 Hijri) English translation by Aisha Bewley, Madinah Press 1991.
- Yanabi al-Mawaddah, al-Qundoozi al-Hanafi, section 65, p370*
Muslims are dependent on Islam while Islam is dependent on the Ahlulbayt, that is why when a prominent sahabi advised Imam Hussain (as) to pledge allegiance to Yazid the reply from the Imam was "by my doing so do you think Islam will remain on the earth?".
It is the Party which has taken hold of both the Qur'an the Ahlulbayt who are on the right path, for they have grasped the Qur'an which sets out deen and the Imams from Ahlulbayt who are walking commentaries of deen, through which Islam can be recognised.