It is no doubt that Muslim ummah broke into disputes after the death of prophet Muhammad, and was divided into different groups and it is no doubt that it was already foretold by prophet Muhammad that there will 73 sects after prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Aban narrated that he heard from Sulaym who said: “I heard Ali in Abi Talib (a.s) say: {The Ummah will be separated in 73 sects, of which 72 will go to Hell, and 1 will go to Heaven.
From the 73, 13 will show their love towards us Ahlulbayt, from which 1 will go to Heaven and 12 will go to Hell. The sect that will be saved will be the one which is guided, which is hopeful, which has Iman, obeys command (bows his head), is agreeable and intelligent. It is he that trusts me and bows his head to my command, obeys my command, chooses to keep away from my enemy, loves me, keeps enmity with my enemy, has recognised my rights, and Imamat and has realised my obedience compulsory through the Book of Allah and the Tradtion of the Holy Prophet, and has not become an apostate, and has not doubted, because Allah has enlightened his heart with the knowledge of our rights and has recognised our merits and all this has sunk into his heart and is written on his forehead. Allah has entered him in my Shias until his heart is satisfied and has developed surety (yaqin) that there is no doubt included.
Surely I and my Awsiya after me till the Day of Judgement will guide and are guided, and are those whom Allah has shown through a lot of verses of Quran to be nearest to Him and His Prophet and has made us pure and infallible and has made us witness for His Creation, declared us Hujjat (authority) on His Earth, made us a treasure of His Knowledge, mines of His Wisdom, translators of His Message, kept us with the Quran and kept the Quran with us. We will not separate from it and it will not separate from us until we reach the Heavenly Fountain of the Holy Prophet (S.A. W) as he has said: And this is the one sect, out of the 73, that will be saved from Hell and will be saved from discord, misguidance and doubts, and this, surely, is from the dwellers of Heaven and these are 70000 who will enter Heaven without being questioned. As 72 sects have chosen false Deen, and are helpers of the deen of Shaytan and have taken that deen from Shaytan and its friends.
KITAB-E-SULAYM IBN
QAYS AL HILALI page number page number 33 of 255
So the real question comes if there is only one true sect, how can we know it ? Is it possible that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) the best of all creation would leave us in confusion? And Allah the Al-Aleem would be unaware of the future disagreements? It is not possible that Prophet Muhammad PBUH would leave us in chaos, and we were already foretold that there will be 73 sects, so the main goal remain is to find that one true path, but how can we do that? Did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave us a key by holding onto it we can unlock the true path, if so how can we find that key ? Do we find a way to this key in Quran ?
Allah swt says in Quran
It is prescribed that when death approaches any of you – if they leave behind goodness (something of value) – a Will should be made to the parents and near relatives with fairness. [This is] an obligation on those who are mindful [of Allah].} – The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 180
We see in the Quran that it is a clear obligation to write a will when death approaches, and we see that even a person who has wealth and children is so cautious to not cause dispute among his children so he dictates a will, so how is it possible that prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who was given the authority over universe and the duty of spreading the religion of Allah would leave us without handling the authority of ummah to anyone And when we dig deeper we actually find that before Propjet. Muhammad’s (PBUH) wanted to write a will and this incident is present in the Hadith known as the “Tragedy of Thursday”
Ibn Abbas reported:
When Allah’s Messenger (PBUH & His Family) was about to leave this world, there were persons (around him) in his house, ‘Umar b. al-Kbattab being one of them. Allah’s Apostle (PBUH & His Family) said: Come, I may write for you a document; you would not go astray after that. Thereupon Umar said: Verily Allah’s Messenger (PBUH & His Family) is deeply afflicted with pain. You have the Qur’an with you. The Book of Allah is sufficient for us. Those who were present in the house differed. Some of them said: Bring him (the writing material) so that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH & His Family) may write a document for you and you would never go astray after him And some among them said what ‘Umar had (already) said. When they indulged in nonsense and began to dispute in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (PBUH & His Family), he said: Get up (and go away) ‘Ubaidullah said: Ibn Abbas used to say: There was a heavy loss, indeed a heavy loss, that, due to their dispute and noise. Allah’s Messenger (PBUH & His Family) could not write (or dictate) the document for them.
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Naysaburi, Book 25, Hadith 31
In this Hadith we can clearly find that prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted to write a will but he was stopped by some of the companions, and in another Hadith we find that he did write and dictated it to Imam Ali A.s
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The Hadith states:
O Talhah, were you present when the Holy Prophet (SAW) asked for a paper so that he could write that with which the Ummah does not deviate and oppose? At that time your companion said what he said – (ie Allah’s Messenger is delirious.) At that time the Holy Prophet (SAW) became very angry and left it.”
Talhah said: “Yes I was present at that time.”
Ali (AS) said: “When you people left, the Holy Prophet (SAW) told me all these and also told me what he wanted to write and he wanted people to be wirness to it. At that time Archangel Jibre’eel informed him that Allah Azz Wa Jall knew what opposition and separation the Ummah will have. Then he asked for a paper and asked me to write what he wanted written and made three people witness it – Salman, Abu Dhar and Miqdad, and he told the names of the Imams who are guides, whose obedience Allah has commanded till the Day of Judgment.
-KITAB-E-SULAYM IBN
QAYS AL HILALI page number 64 of 255
In this narration we find that prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave the key which leads to the straight path and he dictated the will to Imam Ali a.s and told him the names of all the imams whose obedience is obligatory till the day of the qiyama and Hazrat Salman, Abu dhar and miqdad were witness over it. Thus this shows that prophet Muhammad didn’t leave us without indicating a clear way of guidance. It shows us that prophet Muhammad PBUH indicated that we are supposed to follow the imams of guidance till the qiyamma, let’s find our see names of the imams of guidance? Surprisingly prophet Muhammad PBUH did write a will and mentioned the names of the imams we are supposed to follow and obey and this Hadith has been there yet still hidden since 1400 years
The Hadith states
The Will of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family):
“Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said to Ali (PBUH) on the night of his death, ‘O Father of Al-Hassan, bring me a pen and a paper,’ so the Messenger of Allah (PBUH & His Family) dictated his Will until he came to this position where he said: ‘O Ali, there will be twelve Imams after me and after them there will be twelve Mahdis. So you, O Ali, are the first of the twelve Imams, Allah the Exalted has named you in His heavens Ali Al-Murtada (the Content), Amirul Mo’mineen (the Prince of the Believers), Al-Siddiq Al-Akbar (the Greater Truthful), Al-Farouq Al-A’tham (the Greater Judge and Differentiator between truth and falsehood), Al-Ma’moun (the Trusted), and the Mahdi (the Guided). These names may not be attributed to other than you. O Ali, you are my vicegerent/guardian over my own family, their living and their dead, and upon my women: Whomever you kept, she shall find me tomorrow, and whomever you divorced, I am innocent of her, I will not see her and she will not see me on the Day of Resurrection. And you are my successor (Khalifa) over my nation after me. If death comes to you, hand it over to my son Al-Hassan, the righteous and benevolent. Then if death comes to him, let him hand it over to my son Al-Hussein, the martyr, the pure and murdered. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the master of worshipers, Dhul Thafanat (the one with hard skin on his knees) Ali. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al-Baqir (the Revealer of Knowledge). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ja’far Al-Sadiq (the Truthful). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Musa Al-Kathim (the Patient). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Ridha (the Pleasing One). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al-Thiqa Al-Taqqi (the Trustworthy, the God-Fearing). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Nasih (the Advisor). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Al-Hassan Al-Fadhil (the Meritorious). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed the Safeguarded of the Family of Mohammed (PBUT). Those are the twelve Imams. Then there will be twelve Mahdis after him, so if death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the first of the close ones, he has three names, one like mine and my Father’s and it is Abdullah (Servant of God), Ahmed (the Praised), and the third name is Al-Mahdi (the Guided), and he is the first of the believers.’ ”
Arabic source:
- Ghaybat Al-Tusi, Al-Shaikh Al-Tusi, Vol. 1, p. 174
- - Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 53, p. 148
- English source:
- https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/27/1/26/11
In this Hadith we find that prophet Muhammad stated the names of 12 Imams starting from imam Ali as till the imam of the time Muhammad Ibn Hassan Al Askari and further indicates that there will be 12 Mahdis mentioning the names of first three of them Abdullah, Ahmed and Al Mahdi. Which proves that only the 12 imams and 12 Mahdis are the rightly guided imams we are supposed to follow till the day of qiyamma and the true religion of Islam and the true sect is the only one which obeys the rightly guided imams and Mahdis till the day of qiyamma.
