['Aalim Network QR] Ahadeeth on the names of the Imams (a.s)

["Akil M. Karim" <amk@io.org>]

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|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
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Salamun `Alaykum

The following question was kindly answered by Mulla Bashir Rahim.


Fee Amaanillah,

Akil Karim
Acting Moderator for ABDG-A

----------- Forwarded Message ----------

QUESTION:

Would you tell me hadiths from Rasulullah SAWW that mention the names of
the twelve Imams from both Sunni and Shi'i sources.(please include the
wordings of the hadiths). 


ANSWER:

Thank you for asking this important question and I do apologize for the
delay in responding to it. 

There is a large body of ahadeeth in the Sunni books of reference on the
number of the Imaams after the Holy Prophet.  Naturally there are not as
many ahadeeth in such books on the names of the twelve Imaams. Two
important authors from the Sunni school of thought who come to mind
immediately are: 

(1) Shaikh Sulayman Balkhi (died 1294 AH). In his Yanabi-ul-Mawadda,
    Ch.76, reports the following hadith-

A jew name Na'thal came to the Holy Prophet (SAWA) and questioned him
about Tawheed and was so impressed with the answers given that he
embraced Islam. Then Na'thal asked about his (the Prophet's)
vicegerents. The Prophet answered, "My vice-gerent is Ali bin Abi
Taalib, after him his son Hassan, then Hassan's brother Hussain who will
be followed by his nine successive descendants."  The Holy Prophet named
all the Imaams. 

The author also reports from the Manaqib of Khawarizmi another hadith on
the same lines originating from Jabir bin Abdullah (Ansari). 


(2) In Kifayatul Athar there is a tradition from Jabir bin Abdullah
    Ansari who reports that when Ayah 62 Surah 4, "O you who believe, obey
    Allah, and obey the Apostle and those among you who are invested with
    authority" was revealed, Jabir asked who the persons invested with
    authority were. The Holy Prophet said, "They are my khulafah as well as
    the Imaams of the Muslims." He went on to name the Imaams. When he 
    got to Imaam Muhammad al-Baqir, he paused and told Jabir, "O Jabir, you 
    will meet him and when you do so, convey my salaams to him". The 
    Prophet then went on to name the remaining Imaams and describe the 
    minor and the major occultations of the twelfth Imaam. 

There are many ahadeeth from the Shiah sources. Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini
in his al-Imaam al-Mahdi reports the following hadith from Jami' ahadeeth
al-Shiah, Vol. 1, Introduction: Hazrat Ali (AS) in one of his khutbas
mentioned the hadith from the Holy Prophet giving the details of the
twelve Imaams and asked the congregation to confirm the hadith which they
unanimously did. 

With salaams and du'aas from an humble servant of Ahlul Bayt and their
followers,

Bashir Rahim