In this part of the article titled “Existence of Imam Mahdi in Hadith “My caliphs are twelve persons””, we shall focus on other related points on the hadith.
3: “Muhammad ibn Yusuf Sakehi Shami”
He’s accepted that hadrat “Mahdi” [a.s] is from descendent of messenger of Allah [PBUH]:
وروي الإمام أحمد والباوردي عنه [ابي سعيد الخدري] قال: قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم: (أبشروا بالمهدي، رجل من قريش من عترتي يخرج في اختلاف من الناس، فيملأ الأرض قسطا وعدلا كما ملئت ظلما وجورا، ويرضي عنه ساكن السماء وساكن الأرض ويقسم المال صحاحا
Imam “Ahmad ibn Hanbal” and “Al- Bawerdi” have quoted from messenger of Allah [PBUH]: I give you glad tiding to “Mahdi” who is from “Qauraysh” and my “Ahl al-Bayt”, he’ll appear while there is discrepancy amongst people; he’ll fill the earth with justice as it’s filled with oppression and residents of earth and sky are satisfied with him and he divides properties fairly (1)
4: “Ibn Hajar Haythami”
He’s also accepted that the last caliph is hadrat “Mahdi” [a.s]:
والظاهر أن آخرهم المهدي فإنه بملك جميع الأرض
Apparently last person of these twelve caliphs is “Mahdi” who will own entire earth (2)
5: “Azim Abadi”
He’s describer of “Sunan ibn Dawud” has quoted this saying of “Ibn Kathir” and accepted it:
ومعني هذا الحديث البشارة بوجود اثني عشر خليفة صالحاً يقيم الحق، ويعدل فيهم.(3)
6. Fiqh council of Islamic world communication
Members of Fiqh council of Islamic world communication in “Mecca” have said: The last caliph of twelve caliphs is the one whom Messenger of Allah [PBUH] has notified of his arrival:
ويظهر عند فساد الزمان وانتشار الكفر وظلم الناس ويملأ الأرض قسطاً وعدلاً، كما ملئت ظلماً وجوراً، يحكم العالم كله، وتخضع له الرقاب… وهو آخر الخلفاء الاثني عشر، أخبر النبي صلي اللّه عليه وسلّم عنهم في الصحاح
When corruption takes everywhere and oppression spreads amongst people, he’ll appear and fill the world with justice as it’s filled with oppression. He’ll govern on entire world… he’s the last caliph of twelve caliphs whom messenger of Allah [PBUH] has notified of his appearance in “Sihah sitta” narratives.
Important points of this narrative
According to text of narrative and its different phrases, several important points are gotten and considering these points, we can rely on the existence of imam “Mahdi” [a.s]:
1: the number of caliphs that messenger of Allah [PBUH] has given gad tiding to their existence is twelve.
2: they’re from “Quraysh” tribe; but considering narrative of “Qunduzi Hanafi”, they’re “Hashemi”.
3: their quality is that glory and greatness of Islam depend on them and people’s support or opposition have no effect on their guidance.
4: resembling them to the chieftains of children of Israel shows that selecting them to this position is in hand of god; not people, as almighty god has selected chieftains of children of Israel and like prophets of children of Israel, they’re infallible that only god knows about people’s infallibility.
5: they follow divine guidelines supervising religion; and their job is spreading justice and fighting oppression.
6: these caliphs of messenger of Allah [PBUH] come to guide people constantly at any time which means caliph of messenger of Allah will be on the earth until day of resurrection come up. The word «لايزال» in this sentence:
لا يزال الاسلام عزيزا إلي اثنا عشر خليفة
And other sentences that all valid resources have quoted it, shows that imams always exist on the earth and if one of them and their last one don’t exist, I’ll be time of resurrection. This point is in this narrative:
لَنْ يَزَالَ الدينُ قَائِماً إِلَي اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ، فَإِذَا هَلَكُوا مَاجَتِ الأَرْضُ بِأَهْلِهَا.(4)
Hadith “Thaqalayn” restates that Quran and “Ahl al-Bayt” who are caliphs of messenger of Allah won’t separate from each other and their existence on the earth is constant until day of resurrection.
So, according to this narrative, caliphs of messenger of Allah [PBUH] come one after another one constantly and no time is empty of the existence of one them.
In addition to this narrative, some Sunni resources have quoted from some of companions of messenger of Allah [PBUH] that caliphs come constantly:
حدثنا ابن وهب عن عبد الرحمن بن زياد بن أنعم عن أبي عبد الرحمن الحبلي عن عبد الله بن عمرو بن العاص رضي الله عنهما قال: سيلي أمر هذه الأمة خلفاء يتوالون، كلهم صالح وعليهم تفتح الأرضين كلها
“Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As” said: In soon future, caliphs will come one after another one, they’ll be the guardian of this nation and all of them are righteous…(5)
The method of reasoning
Considering these points, the method of reasoning to prove this matter is as follow:
1: Shias believe that successors of messenger of Allah [PBUH] are twelve persons, selected by god, have intrinsic knowledge and infallibility and wonderful qualities and qualities said in these narrative such as; number twelve, being fair and righteous, giving glory and stability of religion and Islam, guiding people based on divine {Quran} guidelines and fair attitude, are match with the existence of these right imams.
2: it’s been said in narrative that stability of religion and Islam depend on their existence and according to this narrative, religion remains until resurrection:
لَا يَزَالُ الدِّينُ قَائِمًا حتي تَقُومَ السَّاعَةُ
So, as long as religion is stable, existence of one of these twelve imams is necessary, because existence of religion depends on their existence.
Thirdly: Sunni elders have confessed that the last person of these caliphs is a person named “Mahdi” and he’s from the descendent of messenger of Allah [PBUH] and their name is the same and will fill the earth with justice after coming.
“Qunduzi Hanafi” has quoted from Messenger of Allah [PBUH] via two persons that messenger of Allah [PBUH] has introduced hadrat “Ali” [a.s] as his first successor and Hadrat “Mahdi” [a.s] as his last successor:
First narrative
وعن عباية بن ربعي، عن جابر قال: قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وآله: أنا سيد النبيين، وعلي سيد الوصيين، وإن أوصيائي بعدي إثنا عشر، أولهم علي، وآخرهم القائم المهدي
“Jabir” says: messenger of Allah [PBUH] said: I’m the master of prophets and “Ali” is the master of successors and there are twelve successors after me; their first one is “Ali ibn abi Talib” and last one is hadrat “Mahdi”.(6)
Second narrative:
عن سعيد بن جبير، عن ابن عباس قال: قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وآله: إن خلفائي وأوصيائي وحجج الله علي الخلق بعدي الاثنا عشر، أولهم علي، وآخرهم ولدي المهدي، فينزل روح الله عيسي بن مريم فيصلي خلف المهدي، وتشرق الأرض بنور ربها، ويبلغ سلطانه المشرق والمغرب
“Ibn Abbas” says: messenger of Allah [PBUH] said: after me, successors and proofs of god for people are twelve persons; their first one is “Ali” and last one is my child “Mahdi”. “Jesus” will come down from sky and say prayer behind him and his reign takes east and west of the universe. (7)
Late Allameh Seyed “Murtaza Askari”, one of Shia prominent researchers, quotes narrative of “My caliphs are twelve persons” with different phrases from Sunni resources and reasons the existence of Imam Mahdi [a.s] as follow:
نستخلص مما سبق ونستنتج: أن عدد الأئمة في هذه الأمة اثنا عشر علي التوالي، وان بعد الثاني عشر منهم ينتهي عمر هذه الدنيا فقد ورد في الحديث الأول: «لا يزال هذا الذين قائما حتي تقوم الساعة أو يكون عليكم اثنا عشر خليفة… ». فان هذا الحديث يعين مدة قيام الدين ويحددها بقيام الساعة ويعين عدد الأئمة في هذه الأمة باثني عشر شخصا
The summary and result of what was said is that the number of imams who come amongst this nation one after another one is twelve and after their twelve one, life of this world will end.
First narrative
“لا يزال هذا الذين قائما حتي تقوم الساعة أو يكون عليكم اثنا عشر خليفة”
This narrative determines the stability of religion until resurrection and it also clarifies that the number of imams amongst nation is twelve. Fifth narrative indicates that as longs as these twelve imams are alive, religion will be eternal and after them earth will collapse. Eighth narrative has limited their number to eight like chieftains of “Bani Israel” and shows that after messenger of Allah [PBUH], no one will be caliph unless these twelve persons. Words of these narratives that restate the number of twelve caliphs and beginning of chaos and resurrection after them, shed light on words of other narratives that aren’t clear in this regard. So, life of one of these caliphs is miraculously long that this matter has come true about twelfth imam.(8)
Conclusion
In the perspective of Sunni, narrative of “My caliphs are twelve” is an impeccable narrative and is one of narratives that imply the existence of Hadrat “Mahdi” [a.s].
NOTES:
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1. “Al-Salehi Shami”, Subul al-Huda wa al-Irshad fi Sirat Khayr al-Ebad, vol. 10, p 171
2. “Al-Haythami”, Muballigh al-Arab fi Fakhr al-Arab, vol. 1, p 38.
3. “Al-Azim Abadi”, al-Ma’boud fi Sharh Sunan ibn Dawud, vol. 11, p 247; “Al-Mubarfakuri”, Tuhfah al-Ahuozi – vol. 6, p 293
4. “Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi”, Kanz al-Ummal, vol. 12, p 17
5. “Na’im ibn Himad”, Kitab al-Fitan, vol. 1, p 117
6. “Al-Qunduzi Hanafi”, Yanabi’ al-Mawaddah, vol. 3, p 291
7. “Al-Qunduzi Hanafi”, Yanabi’ al-Mawadda, vol. 3, p 295
8. “Al-Askari”, Ma’alim al-Madrasatayn, vol. 1, p 336
