According to you, I believe that existence and triumph of Islam is contingent upon the 12 unnamed Rulers mentioned in the hadith whereas you believe that Islam will remain glorious until 12 men have ruled. What's the difference between my and your view? We both believe that Islam will remain glorious until 12 men have ruled. Then what's the disagreement?
Re-quoted for emphasis so that you can read it one more time: "What you, and Al-Islam.org, are doing is that you are trying to give the impression that this hadith makes the
existence and triumph of Islam (and life, in the case of Al-Islam.org) contingent upon these 12 leaders when the take-home message from this hadith is that Islam will remain glorious until 12 men have ruled, whoever they may be."
What new meaning was given to the overall message of the hadith by inserting an accepted meaning - the word "Islam"? I fail to understand what you are trying to convey as I also agree that Prophet (s.a.w.w) was telling us that Islam would remain in a state of glory until the rule of 12 leaders have passed.
Please read above. If you are still confused, think along the lines of your belief that the world cannot remain without an Imam. Hopefully that clarifies it for you.
I think you didn't understand me... what I meant was that Prophet (s.a.w.w) could simply had said, "Religion would be dominant until coming of the Hour" and nothing else.
But Islam, in general, and Muslims have not remained dominant (from day one till now) so why would the Prophet (saw) say such a thing?
He (s.a.w.w) should not had said that religion would be dominant until there have been 12 Rulers because no till now knows according to you (and many others) who those 12 unnamed rulers are but as for the Religion everyone knows Religion refers to Islam.
Your false assumptions and weak belief have led you to believe that you could better phrase it than the Prophet (saw). He (saw) could have said it any way and you would have still found it next to impossible for your belief (of 12 Imams) to fit into it.
If the identities is unimportant then the number specified 12 is important because according to the hadith Islam will remain in a state of glory until the rule of 12 leaders have passed.
When did the rule of Imam Hussain (ra) pass? How about the rule of Imam Zain ul-Abideen (ra)? Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (ra)? Imam Jaffar as-Sadiq (ra)? Imam Musa al-Kadhim (ra)? Please list the timelines going down to the last one.
Ruling is important according to you. Let me ask you a question. Can a Ruler of Muslim Ummah rule without following Islamic Laws and Commandments? Yazid (l.a) did things which were against Quran and Sunnah... so is his ruler-ship valid?
It is not about the validity of the rule; it has to do with whether a person was in a ruling position or not. Yazeed (la) ruled the Muslim ummah! Equally difficult for you to stomach is the fact that Imam Hassan (ra) trusted his father, Muawiya, with the affairs of the Muslims and handed him the Caliphate. So while you will busy yourself with validity (which is completely off-tangent), your own second Imam (ra) considered Muawiya's rule to be valid and hence, I can cite Muawiya to be one of the 12 leaders whereas you cannot even vouch for Imam Hussain (ra).
Even if Muslim Ummah be ruled by thousand Unrighteous Rulers (who rule without following Rules and Regulations of Islam) then those Rulers ruler-ship is invalid. Those rulers are illegitimate Rulers who have snatched forcefully authority from Righteous Rulers.
The hadith does not comment on the righteousness or unrighteousness of the 12 leaders; it only states that Islam will remain triumphant until 12 leaders, all from Quraish, have ruled.
It has been narrated by Abu Huraira that the Prophet (may pceace be upon him) said:
Banu Isra'il were ruled over by the Prophets. When one Prophet died, another succeeded him; but after me there is no prophet and there will be caliphs and they will be quite large in number. His Companions said: What do you order us to do (in case we come to have more than one Caliph)? He said: The one to whom allegiance is sworn first has a supremacy over the others. Concede to them their due rights (i. e. obey them). God (Himself) will question them about the subjects whom He had entrusted to them.
Reference: Sahih Muslim 1842 a
In-book reference: Book 33, Hadith 71
USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 20, Hadith 4543
Never in my life have I been presented proofs by Shias to substantiate Shia beliefs in one matter that do not shatter their claims (in other matters). It has always been the case. Shias present proof to substantiate one of their beliefs but their own proof refutes so many of their other beliefs, on many levels.
1. My original statement was that "The Qur'an does not say that Prophets (asws)
must rule; the Sunnah does not say so either." The hadith you have presented does not necessitate that Prophets (asws) had to rule, unlike the hadith of 12 Leaders.
2. The hadith you have presented is using the term "rule" in conjunction with Prophets (asws) sent to Banu Isra'il in a metaphorical sense. In the case of the hadith of 12 Leaders, these individuals
must rule. That is, they need to be in a position to govern the ummah (righteous or not).
3. Let us analyze the following portion of your own presented hadith, "there will be caliphs and they will be quite large in number". According to the Prophet (saw), there would be Caliphs, not Imams. Furthermore, they (Caliphs)
would be quite large in number. Therefore, the number 12 is no longer special and its elite status goes right out of the window.
4. Let us analyze the other statement of the Prophet (saw), "The one to whom allegiance is sworn first has a supremacy over the others".
This proves that leaders are not appointed by Allah (swt) but are chosen by people. And for the virtue of having been pledged allegiance to before Imam Ali (ra), the first three Rightly-Guided Caliphs (ra) have supremacy over Imam Ali (ra).
5. Lastly, the Prophet (saw) said, "God (Himself) will question them about the subjects whom He had entrusted to them" which means that these leaders may or may not be righteous (because Allah will question them on their affairs in regards to the Muslims).
You mean to say that GOD praises Family of Ibrahim (a.s) and Bani Israel but does no such thing for the Family of Mohammed (s.a.w.w)?
Do you have a clear-cut Qur'anic verse praising the family of the Prophet (saw) like this one: "Indeed, Allah chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of 'Imran over the worlds" (Qur'an 3:33)
May I know the reason why does GOD not praise the Family of Imam-ul-Anbiya (s.a.w.w) but praises the Family of Anbiya (a.s)?
You need to question Allah (swt), not me!