This din will remain stable until 12 Imams govern, all from the Quraysh

لا يزال هذا الدين قائما (ما وليه اثنا عشر إماما) كلهم من قريش

This din will remain stable (until 12 Imams govern in,) all from the Quraysh.

The significance of the hadith is to convey glad tidings of the presence of 12 righteous Khalifas who will establish the truth and display justice between the masses. This does not demand their succession to the post one after another. Rather, four of them were found in succession, viz. the four Khalifas Sayyidina Abu Bakr, Sayyidina ‘Umar, Sayyidina ‘Uthman, and Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhum. ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz was one of them undoubtedly according to the scholars, and some of the Banu al ‘Abbas.

Definitely, Qiyamah will not take place until they rule. It is apparent that al Mahdi is one of them who has been prophesised in many ahadith. It appears that he will have the same name as Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and his father’s name will resemble Rasulullah’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam father’s name. He will fill the earth with justice and fairness just as it was filled with oppression and tyranny. However, it does not refer to the alleged awaited Imam who the Rawafid believe to exist and emerge from a cave in Samarra. This has no reality whatsoever, nor any existence. Rather it is the delusion of foolish minds and the fantasy of feeble thoughts. These 12 Khalifas do not refer to the 12 Imams who the Twelver Rawafid believe in due to their ignorance.

The Rawafid always ask the question: Who is the Imam of your era?

I say: If he emerges and introduces himself to us, we will definitely recognise him. If we then reject, then most certainly our death will be the death of ignorance. But to remain hidden from us and to compel us to recognise an unknown identity, is taklif ma la yutaq (compelling us to do the impossible).

See what their scholar al Khu’i says:

The mutawatir narrations that reached us from the chains of the Ahlus Sunnah and Shia have specified the Imams to be 12 in number. They have not specified each of their names.^[1]

This is an emphatic declaration that the Imams are unknown. So how can you demand us to give you their names?

And by the way, you have 13 Imams, not 12.

إني و اثني عشر من ولدي و أنت يا علي زر الأرض يعني أوتادها و جبالها بنا أوتد الله الأرض أن تسيخ بأهلها فإذا ذهب الإثنا عشر من ولدي ساخت الأرض بأهلها

I and 12 of my progeny and you O ‘Ali (12 + 1 = 13) are the pins of the earth, i.e. its pegs and mountains. Through us, Allah has given the earth stability from sinking with its inhabitants. When 12 of my progeny go, the earth will sink together with its inhabitants.^[2]

One who is hiding in a cave cannot be an Imam and is not deserving of the post. He is bereft of the basic qualifications of Imamah. Just as we do not purchase fish that are still in the ocean, we do not swear allegiance to Imams hiding in caves.

All the qualities mentioned in the hadith do not apply to the ones the Rawafid claim to be Imams. None of the 12 held the station of Imamah besides Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu and Sayyidina Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu for a short while after which he stepped down and handed it over as a gift to Sayyidina Muawiyah radiya Llahu ‘anhu. How could Sayyidina Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu hand over this gift to him? How could Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu pledge allegiance to the three Khalifas? Let the Rawafid solve this conundrum! We will look on.

Only two of the twelve became Imams. It devolves on the Shia to accept that the other ten did not control anything.

The Imamiyyah are diverse in the number of Imams. If we consider the view of the Shia Aftahiyyah who stipulate al wirathah al ‘amudiyyah (structured inheritance) as a condition for Imamah, then Imam Hassan al ‘Askari will become the twelfth Imam after acknowledging the Imamah of ‘Abdullah ibn al Aftah ibn Jafar al Sadiq or acknowledging the Imamah of Zaid ibn ‘Ali who some of the early Shia have accepted. Then, the Twelver Shia citing such narrations as proof will not be consistent in any way whatsoever to the Twelve Imams with them.

Furthermore, they have no academic evidence to prove the birth of Muhammad ibn al Hassan al ‘Askari (the missing Twelfth Imam). This is nothing but conjecture, imagination, and guesswork. It is not a concrete academic evidence.

The hadith says that din will remain stable, and mighty whereas the Muslims have been facing humiliation and disgrace. Why are the Muslims facing disgrace and supremacy of their enemies over them in the East, West, South and North? This Twelfth Imam, in whose era we are living, lives peacefully in a cave in a realm of cockroaches, crickets, scorpions, and serpents and evades the Islamic world? If he lives in a cave, then he is just like a prisoner. If he lives outside the cave, then this is a catastrophe. Is he a fugitive or exiled? What has occupied him from the pitiable condition of Muslims? Either the hadith is contradictory or your understanding is distorted!

The era of the Khalifas Rashidin was an era of conquests and the expansion of Islam which was unprecedented and unparalleled to the extent that the Muslim armies reached China during the reign of Sayyidina ‘Uthman radiya Llahu ‘anhu.

Next⇒ None recognises you, O ‘Ali, besides Allah and I

[1] Sirat al Najat vol. 2 pg. 452; Ta’liqat al Tabrizi.

[2] Al Kafi vol. 1 pg. 448.

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