The Hadith of the Twelve Successors / Caliphs / Rulers

[MuslimK]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم


Hadith of Twelve Caliphs
http://twelvershia.net/2015/05/12/hadith-of-twelve-caliphs/

Who are the Twelve Caliphs? (Sunni View)
http://twelvershia.net/2015/05/13/who-are-the-twelve-caliphs-sunni-view/

Who are the Twelve Caliphs? (Shia View)
http://twelvershia.net/2015/05/16/who-are-the-twelve-caliphs-shia-view/

[Hani]

I was answering someone about this and I wrote this,

Let's look at the various narrations from Jundab bin Samura:

-Simak:
لَا يَزَالُ الْإِسْلَامُ عَزِيزًا إِلَى اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"Islam shall remain strong until twelve caliphs."

-Ibn abi `Umar from `Abdul-Malik:
لَا يَزَالُ أَمْرُ النَّاسِ مَاضِيًا مَا وَلِيَهُمُ اثْنَا عَشَرَ رَجُلًا
"The people's affair shall be conducted well as long as they're led by twelve men."

-Ibn Mahdi from `Abdul-Malik:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ صَالِحًا حَتَّى يَكُونَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ أَمِيرًا
"This matter shall remain good until twelve chiefs (rule)."

-Abu `Abdul-Samad from `Abdul-Malik:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الدِّينُ عَزِيزًا أَوْ قَالَ لَا يَزَالُ النَّاسُ بِخَيْرٍ، شَكَّ أَبُو عَبْدِ الصَّمَدِ إِلَى اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"This religion shall remain strong OR he said the people shall remain in goodness (the narrator was unsure) until twelve caliphs."

-Dawoud from Sha`bi:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ عَزِيزًا إِلَى اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"This matter shall remain strong until twelve caliphs"

-Mujalid from Sha`bi:
إِنَّ هَذَا الدِّينَ لَنْ يَزَالَ ظَاهِرًا عَلَى مَنْ نَاوَأَهُ، لَا يَضُرُّهُ مُخَالِفٌ وَلَا مُفَارِقٌ، حَتَّى يَمْضِيَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"This religion shall remain victorious over its opponents, unharmed by those who oppose it or leave it, until twelve caliphs from my nation come to pass."

-Ibn `Awn from Sha`bi:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الدِّينُ عَزِيزًا مَنِيعًا إِلَى اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"This religion shall remain strong and fortified until twelve caliphs."

-`Amir bin Sa`d:
لَا يَزَالُ الدِّينُ قَائِمًا حَتَّى تَقُومَ السَّاعَةُ أَوْ يَكُونَ عَلَيْكُمُ اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً كُلُّهُمْ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ
"The religion will remain to be upright until the hour or you are ruled by twelve caliphs all from Quraysh."

-Isma`il bin Hurmuz from Hurmuz:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الدِّينُ قَائِمًا حَتَّى يَكُونَ عَلَيْكُمُ اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً كُلُّهُمْ تَجْتَمِعُ عَلَيْهِ الْأُمَّةُ
"The religion will remain to be upright until you are ruled by twelve caliphs, the nation shall gather united around them."

-Fitr from Hurmuz:
لَا يَزَالُ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مُؤَاتًي أَوْ مُقَارِبًا حَتَّى يَقُومَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"This matter shall continue to be appropriate or adequate until the rule of twelve caliphs."

-Hosayn:
لا يَزَالُ هَذَا الدِّينُ قَائِمًا حَتَّى يَقُومَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً
"The religion will continue to be upright until the rule of twelve caliphs."

-Musayyib:
إِنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ لا يَزَالُ ظَاهِرًا لا يَضُرُّهُ خِلافُ مَنْ خَالَفَهُ حَتَّى يُؤَمَّرَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي كُلُّهُمْ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ
"This matter will remain to be victorious, unharmed by the opposition of any opponent until twelve from my nation are granted authority, all of them from Quraysh."

That's pretty much all of the detailed narrations from Jabir aside from any summarized versions since those serve no purpose. We can clearly see what is meant by this narration, in that the condition of the religion will remain strong up until the rule of the first twelve caliphs, in other words it will remain good from the time of the Prophet (saw) and then keep weakening and deteriorating until by the time the twelfth passes, it's going to be a shell of its former self.

What you did is that you quoted the following:

It was narrated that Jaabir ibn Samurah said: I entered upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with my father, and I heard him say: “This matter will not end until there have been among them twelve caliphs.” Then he said something that I could not hear, and I said to my father: What did he say? He said: “All of them will be from Quraysh.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (no. 7222); Muslim (no. 1821).
First of all, this text is not found in Bukhari like you claim, al-Bukhari narrates a summarized version without any context. Secondly, the text you quoted from Muslim is this one by Hosayn:

إِنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ لاَ يَنْقَضِي حَتَّى يَمْضِيَ فِيهِمُ اثْنَا عَشَرَ خَلِيفَةً

"This matter shall not come to pass until twelve caliphs rule them."

This is nothing more than a variation of the above texts as you can see by referring to Hosayn's text in the above list. The "Matter" here in this narration refers to the strength of the religion, its resilience and glory shall not diminish until the Muslims are ruled by twelve caliphs.

The prophesy was fulfilled, we were ruled by twelve from Quraysh and religion weakened gradually. Nothing can be concluded from the above that we will ONLY have 12 leaders and then the world will end, that is a very corrupt interpretation on your part. Proof is that we were ruled by plenty of Caliphs and nothing ended.

[Soccer]

The Quran talks about "strength" of religion in terms of proof.  For example, Moses (a) was highest in the eyes of people, but people still rejected him.

The following can be concluded from the hadiths - in view of Ahlulbayt (a) are chosen by God.

(1) The true religion despite all the oppression Shiites and Imams (a) face, would remain strong in proof and evidence, all the way till the 12th Imam (a).  The path would be clear, doesn't mean easy to follow, but it was clear and manifest and the word of God was high during up to the 12th Imam (a) for certain.
(2)After the 12th Imam (a) comes to be - it maybe - the state of "clearness" and "height" of God's word and rope, becomes not so high and strong. This hadith doesn't say it will happen, but it's possible. Meaning, believers should be worried about this and that they need to help God's religion if it's going to have a place of strength.
(3)The emphasis of Ahlulbayt (a) are from Quraysh, and there is no excuse to follow worst of Quraysh, when God's chosen is among the Quraysh. That, and it means, that Jesus (a) is not a successor of Mohammad (s) nor Elyas (a) nor any past or future person, but rather the Mahdi (a) is a Successor of Mohammad (s) from Quraish. This is possible, but there is another possible meaning to Quraysh.
(4) Some commentaries and there is evidence suggest that Quraysh never referred to a tribe in the normal sense, but was some sort of role like "police" and it had to do with protecting the Kaba. It was not just one tribe but many tribes that formed Quraysh.  Quraysh is also not a nickname of anyone who is a root bloodline wise.  The suggestion by some Tafsirs is that Quraysh in Suratal Quraysh means the God-fearing, and this perhaps is supported by the verse "And none of them are it's guardians except the guarding ones (against God's wrath and displeasure)."  According to my research, this seems to be true. It's not even disputed by any scholar from what I know, just not well known among people because it's not talked about.