Twelve imams determined by Allah

“One day I passed by a man, who said: “The example of Muhammad is like the example of a date-palm growing in a dunghill.” I came to the Prophet (S) and told him of that. He became very angry. He went to the minbar. Al-Ansar took up their arms when they saw the Prophet (S) so angry. He said: “Why do some people criticize my close relatives after they have heard me mentioning that Allah has preferred them to all of the people and has favored them by purifying them and taking uncleanness away from them? They have heard me mentioning the virtues of my family and the virtues of my guardian, whom Allah has honored and preferred because of his precedence in being a Muslim, his defending Islam, his kinship to me and that he is to me as has Aaron been to Moses. After all, someone of you claims that I am, among my family, like a date-palm growing in a dunghill! Allah has created his creation and divided them into two parties. He has made me in the best of them. Then He has divided this party into three groups and made me in the best of them and in the best tribe. Then He divided them into families and made me in the best of them until I have been purified with my brother Ali bin Abu Talib from among the family. Allah the Almighty looked at the people of the earth and chose me from among them and then He looked again and chose Ali; my brother, vizier, heir, my caliph for my umma and the guardian of every believer after me. Whoever obeys him, obeys Allah and whoever opposes him, opposes Allah. Whoever loves him will be loved by Allah and whoever hates him will be hated by Allah. No one loves him except the believers and no one hates him except the unbelievers. He is the basis of the earth and its ease after me. He is the word of piety and the firmest handhold of Allah. “They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not consent save to perfect His light.” The enemies of Allah want to put out the light of my brother but Allah will not consent save to perfect his light. O people, let the present inform the absent of my speech! Then Allah looked thirdly and chose some ones from among my family after me. They are the best of my umma; eleven imams after my brother (Ali) one after the other. Whenever one of them leaves to the better world another one will replace him. Their example is like the stars of the sky; whenever a star sets another will shine. They are guided and guiding imams. They will never be affected by the disappointment of their opponents nor by the plotting of their enemies. They are the authorities of Allah on the earth and His witnesses over His people. Whoever obeys them, obeys Allah and whoever disobeys them disobeys Allah. They are with the Qur’an and the Qur’an is with them. They will never part with the Qur’an nor will it part with them until they come to me at the pond (in Paradise). The first of the imams is my brother Ali, who is the best of them, then my son Hasan, then my son Husayn and then nine ones from the progeny of Husayn.” He mentioned all the tradition.

“I asked Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) about the saying of Allah (But they reject the hour, and We have prepared a burning fire for him who rejects the hour). He said: “Allah has divided the year into twelve months, the night into twelve hours, the day into twelve hours and He has chosen from us twelve inspired imams. Imam Ali (as) was an hour from among those hours.”

I have heard Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Ali al-Baqir (as) saying: From among us there are twelve inspired ones.

“A night is twelve hours, a day is twelve hours, a year is twelve months, the imams are twelve and the disciples are twelve. Imam Ali (as) is an hour of the twelve hours as Allah has said, “But they reject the hour, and We have prepared a burning fire for him who rejects the hour.”

I asked Abu Abdullah (as): “Who is better; al-Hasan or al-Husayn?” He said: “The virtue of the previous one of us joins the next one of us and the virtue of the next one of us joins the previous one. Each one of us has his virtue.” I said: “May my soul be sacrificed for you! Would you explain the answer more to me because I look for the truth?” He said: “We are from one tree. Allah has created us from one clay. Our virtue and knowledge are from Allah. We are the deputies of Allah over His people, the propagandists for His religion and the means between Allah and His people. Do I say more to you O Zayd?” I said: “Yes!” He said: “Our creation is the same. Our knowledge is the same. Our virtue is the same and we all are the same before Allah.” I asked: “Would you tell me how many you are?” He said: “We are twelve ones. So has been determined around the Throne at the beginning of the Creation. The first of us is Muhammad. The middle is Muhammad and the last of us is Muhammad.”

“One day I was with Imam Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Ali al-Baqir (as). When the all left, he said to me: “O Abu Hamza, what is inevitable and that Allah will not change is the advent of the last imam of ours; al-Mahdi. Whoever doubts this matter, will be unbeliever before Allah. I swear that his name will be like mine and his surname will be like mine. He will be the seventh after me. He will fill the world with justice and equity after it has been filled with injustice and oppression. O Abu Hamza, he, who will attend his (Imam al-Mahdi’s) appearance and will not submit to him, has not submitted to Muhammad and Ali (peace be upon them) and then he will be forbidden from being in Paradise, his abode will be the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust!” Clearer than this is the saying of Allah: “Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah’s ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth, of these four being sacred; that is the right religion; therefore be not unjust to yourselves regarding them.” Knowing the months is not to be considered as the right religion because the Jews, the Christians, the Magi and all peoples know the number and the names of the months. They are but the twelve imams, who are the guardians of the religion. Among the four sacred ones is Imam Ali (as), whose name Allah has derived from His name as He has derived the name of the Prophet (S). Three other imams have the name Ali. They are Ali bin al-Husayn, Ali bin Musa and Ali bin Muhammad. So this name (Ali), which has been derived from one of the attributes of Allah, has deserved to be sacred. Peace and blessing be upon Muhammad and his progeny, the pure, the sacred.

I came to Abu Abdullah Ja’far bin Muhammad as-Sadiq (as) in Medina and he said to me: “Why have you not visited us since so long, O Dawood?” I said: “I had something to do in Kufa.” He said: “Whom did you leave in Kufa?” I said: “May my soul be sacrificed for you! I have left your uncle Zayd. I left him riding on a horse with his sword and calling loudly: “Ask me before you will miss me. I have great knowledge. I have known the abrogating and abrogated verdicts, the oft-repeated verses and the great Qur’an. Knowledge is between Allah and you.” He said to me: “O Dawood, things have affected you!” Then he called: “O Suma’a bin Mihran, bring me a basket of ripe dates!” He brought him a basket of ripe dates. He took one, ate it, took the kernel out of his mouth and stuck it into the ground. It grew and fruited. He picked an unripe date from one of the bunches. He split it and took a piece of parchment out of it. He spread it, gave it to me and said to me: “Read it!” It had two lines. The first line was (There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). The second line was (Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah’s ordinance since the day when He created the heavens and the earth, of these four being sacred; that is the right religion); Amirul Mo’mineen Ali bin Abu Talib, al-Hasan bin Ali, al-Husayn bin Ali, Ali bin al-Husayn, Muhammad bin Ali, Ja’far bin Muhammad, Musa bin Ja’far, Ali bin Musa, Muhammad bin Ali, Ali bin Muhammad, al-Hasan bin Ali, al-Khalaf al-Hujjah (al-Mahdi). Then he said: “O Dawood, do you know when this has been written in this piece of parchment?” I said: “Allah, His messenger and you are more aware!” He said: “Two thousand years before Allah had created Adam.”

I heard Abu Ibraheem Musa bin Ja’far bin Muhammad (Imam al-Kadhim) (as) saying: “Allah has created a house of light. He has made four pillars for it. Four names has been written on them; Tabarak, Subhan, al-Hamd and Allah. Then he has created four ones from those four and then four from these four then He has said: (Surely the number of months with Allah is twelve months).”

I said to Abu Abdullah Ja’far bin Muhammad as-Sadiq (as): “May I die for you! Would you tell me about (the meaning of) the saying of Allah, “And those Foremost (in Faith) will be Foremost (in the Hereafter). These are they who are drawn nigh (to Allah)”? He said: “Allah has said that on the day when He has determined the creation in the Covenant two thousand years before creating the creatures (people).” I said: “Would you explain this for me?” He said: “When Allah had willed to create people, He made them of clay and made a fire for them. He ordered them to enter into fire. The first ones, who had entered into it, were Muhammad, Ali, al-Hasan, al-Husayn and nine imams one after the other and then their followers followed them. By Allah they are the foremost.”

Once I came to Abu Abdullah Ja’far bin Muhammad (as). While I was sitting with him, (his son) Abul Hasan Musa (al-Kadhim) came in. He was a young boy. I got up and kissed him and then I sat down. Abu Abdullah (as) said to me: “O Ibraheem, he will be your companion after me. Because of him many people will perish and others will be pleased. May Allah damn his killer and double the torment for his soul! Allah will derive from him the best of the people on the earth in his time. His name will be like the name of his grandfather. He will be the heir of his grandfather’s knowledge, wisdom and judgements. He will be the essence of the imamate and the top of wisdom. He will be killed by the arrogant of so-and-so family after some wonders because of envy. But Allah will carry out His order even the polytheists are averse. Allah will derive from his progeny the rest of the twelve inspired imams, whom He will honor with dignity of His and will place in the sanctuary of His. He, who waits for the twelfth imam and fights with him, is as if he has fought with the Prophet (S) and defended him.” Then a man of the freed slaves of the Umayyads came in and Imam as-Sadiq (as) stopped talking. I visited him eleven times wishing that he might complete his speech but I failed. In the next year I came to him. He said: “O Ibraheem, he will relieve his Shia from their grief after long strait, affliction, oppression and fright. Blessed is he, who will attend at that time! O Ibraheem, this suffices you.” I have never come back with something more pleasant to my heart and more delightful to my eye than this thing.”

“O Hamran, how odd of people it is! How have they ignored or forgotten the saying of the Prophet (S) on the last day of his life? When he fell ill, people came to visit him until the house became so crowded. Then Ali (as) came and offered greeting but he could not overstep the people to reach the Prophet (S) and the people did not let him pass. When the Prophet (S) saw that, he raised his pillow and said: “O Ali, come to me!” Then people pressed closed to let Ali pass. The Prophet (S) seated Ali (as) beside him and said: “O people, you do so to my family while I am still alive! Then what will you do to them after my death? By Allah, whatever closer you approach to my family, you will be closer to Allah and whatever far you become and turn away from them, Allah will turn away from you. O people, listen to what I say to you! Contentment and love of Allah will be to whoever loves Ali, obeyed him and followed him and his guardians after him. Allah has promised to respond to me regarding them. They are twelve imams. Whoever follows them is from me. I am from Abraham and Abraham is from me. His religion is my religion and my religion is his. His lineage is mine and mine is his. My virtue is his and I am better than him without pride. Allah has confirmed my speech when saying, “Offspring one of the other; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.”

Once I asked my father, who was a very respectable man: “Whom have you met of the successors of the Prophet’s companions?” He said: “I do not know what you say but once I was in Kufa and heard an old man in the mosque talking about a good man. He said: “I have heard Amirul Mo’mineen Ali bin Abu Talib (as) saying: The Prophet (S) has said to me: O Ali, the infallible guided imams of your progeny are eleven ones and you are the first of them. The name of the last of them is like my name. He will appear to fill the world with justice and equity after it has been filled with injustice and oppression. People will come to him asking for money, which will be accumulated. He will say to them: “Take (as you like)!”

Prophet (S) had said: “Allah has revealed to me in the night of the Ascension: “O Muhammad, whom have you entrusted with your umma on the earth-(and He is aware)?” I said: “O my God, I have entrusted my brother.” He the Almighty said: “O Muhammad, is he Ali bin Abu Talib?” I said: “Yes, he is. O my God!” He said: “O Muhammad, I had a look at the earth and chose you from among its people. Whatever I mention, you are to mention with me. I am Mahmood and you are Muhammad. Then I had another look at the earth. I chose Ali bin Abu Talib and made him your guardian. You are the master of the prophets and Ali is the master of the guardians. Then I derived for him a name from my name; I am al-A’la (the highest) and he is Ali (high). O Muhammad, I have created Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan, al-Husayn and the rest of the imams from one light and then I offered their guardianship before the angels. Whoever of them accepted it became close to me and whoever denied it became among the unbelievers. O Muhammad, if one of My people worships me devotedly and then he meets Me denying their guardianship, I will throw him into Hell.” Then He said: “O Muhammad, do you like to see them?” I said: “Yes, O my Lord.” He said: “Go ahead!” I went ahead and I saw Ali bin Abu Talib, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Ali bin al-Husayn, Muhammad bin Ali, Ja’far bin Muhammad, Musa bin Ja’far, Ali bin Musa, Muhammad bin Ali, Ali bin Muhammad, al-Hasan bin Ali and al-Hujjah al-Mahdi, who was like a shining star in the middle of them. I said: “O my God, who are they?” He said: “These are the imams and this is al-Qa’im. He will permit what I have permitted, prohibit what I have prohibited and will revenge on My enemies. O Muhammad, love him because I love him and love whoever loves him.”